Borders Aside

Experiencing IMS in the city

2012-02-02T08:02:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was my first real experience with the free public health system here in the city. Let me tell you its much worse here than in the small town of Tepatitlan. For my job I have to have a carta justificante when I miss work for an illness. And the letter must come from the IMS not from a private doctor. So although it was obvious that my girls had the pox and I couldn't bring them to the daycare I still had to go to the IMS clinic. I was there from 9-12 waiting. Basically they didn't explain everything to me well and even with my probing questions they were reluctant to fill me in on the whole process. By the grace of God the director of our day care showed up (hoping to get vaccinated against the pox) and she got the full information for me. Here is how it works. We are part of the evening shift appointments. People can start showing up at any time for these slots. The appointments don't actually start until 2pm. But if you wait till then to go there may be so many people already that you wont get an appointment that day. But we were there at 15 min till 9am and the lady seriously thought I would wait from then until 2pm. That is virtually impossible with three kids. Not only that by the time I got fed up and left at 1200 there were only two people there for the evening shift appointments. So I'm thinking if we ever do have to get something from that doctor again (for work, or day care) then we will show up at like one and have to wait until 3 or 330 for our appointment. During the time we waited we managed to see the dentist who spoke English to my girls and confirmed we have no cavities. YEAH for that one. We will be visiting the dentist in another 6months for the fluoride application. The only thing I felt was missing there was education. Maybe they didn't do it because I still had my work uniform on. Usually the IMS clinic is better about educating the patient. The dentist is not as full and basically you just show up and they check you out. They actually came over to me and asked me if I wanted the check up from them while I waited for the other office. We almost got the babies flu vaccine but I gave up waiting before that happened. I'm kinda pinching myself for that one. But after three hours there with three girls I was done and so were the girls. We ended up going through the ER and getting Tylenol and my letter from there. I have since lost that letter which I'm also kicking myself for. We also ended up getting an Antibiotic because the oldest on has infections in lesions. The whole experience was pretty horrible and I'm pretty sure we will never use the doctor there unless its absolutely necessary. I'm still glad we have Seguro in case we ever need hospitalization because there is no way we can afford a private hospital. And also the ER was pretty quick and we got free care and medication. Right now the girls are playing well and so far the baby hasn't shown any signs of contracting it from them. I hope if she is going to get it that she gets it soon. I feel like Im leaving something out of the informative part of this post so as always if there are any questions Id be happy to answer them.

Whats in the Headlines

2012-01-22T08:59:00.000-08:00

I have been wanting to start this as a series of blogs. I hope I can get one out each week. The idea here is to show those of you who do not live here that we are not living in a dangerous, third world, ignorant country. The people here live happy lives and think about a lot of the same issues as the people in the states and other countries. Mexican culture is that slow change is better than quick change and although in most cases this drives me up the wall I have also seen that it works a lot of the time. So here is the first of my Whats in the Headlines posts. Basically almost daily I grab a free edition called Publimetro. Publimetro from what I understand started here in Mexico but is now one of the larges world wide free publications. There are about four free news publications here in town but I have found this one to be the most unbiased and one that covers all issues from public to private, from government to famous people, and they even give a reasonable area to what is going on with all the drug stuff. The thing I like is that with each of these issues they lay out the facts. They don't over or under so any of it. For each article I'm not going to go into to much detail as far as this blog goes, but if I post about an article and you want to hear more on that specific topic I could write a second post about it, as always just let me know.

Wednesday 11 of January 2012
The Cathedral is suffering with time. With continual traffic and mistreatment from people the cathedral which is an important symbolic for the city is falling apart. So far they have only managed to raise 10% of the cost to renovate. This is truly a beautiful building but the paper is saying that their is much work to be done. They believe the work will not be completed until after the middle of February . Its going to cost10,000 pesos most of which will be paid by the secretary of culture.

Explaining the paranoia: Specialist talk about why people believe in rumors that are found in the internet. Basically the week before someone spread rumors about kidnappings from a government school. Almost a third of people kept their kids home from school Monday threw Friday the following week. From the first day the state of Jalisco and the City was stating that their was no proof and no missing children reports. In the end it all proved to be rumors but now people are concerned as to why this rumor started and why so many people believed it even when officials where saying otherwise.

Thursday the 12 of January 2012
Asking the internet about sex: Publimetro did a poll asking teenagers who the talked to about sex. The options were parents, teachers and the internet. A whoping 67% said they got their answers online, which isn't surprising but at the same time sad and scary. 25% said they asked their parents. I'm curious to how this would pan out in the states. And 18% said they asked their teachers. They noted that pregnancies cause 6% of drop outs during grade school and junior high in Jalisco. Within Jalisco their were 69,800 pregnancies in 2011, out of those 18,882 were under the age of 19. But here is the good thing about all this. This information hit the front page of the news paper and talked about how the government is determined to have more education for teenagers about the subject. Although this may seem a little late I'm just glad they are taking note and planning on changing. Along with that they are trying to educate the public which is number one for change.

Thousands run to the federal office to register their voting card on the last day available. Ok there is not much to say here but laugh. And really I think the same thing happens in the states.

100 kilos of marijuana was confiscated inside a packing company.

Obviously there is a lot more in each paper but this is what is being placed on the front page.

Also one of the days I received an extra free booklet made by the Secretary of communications and transportation. It was a drivers manual. I'm not sure how many of you remember the manual you use to study for your drivers test but more or less it was the same. It also had stickers you could put on your car that said: Don't message while driving, Don't drive when your tired, Don't obstruct handicapped entrances, I have kids and pets in my back seat (the picture of the kid has a seat-belt), And I'm a responsible driver (again the picture has a man with a seat belt). Yeah for trying to make driving and streets safer here in Mexico. Im sure not a lot of people actually took the time to read the booklet but like I said educating the public is the first step to change and I think Mexico is well on its way to becoming a better place to be.

Hope you enjoyed and see you next week. ;)

Our first Three Kings day

2012-01-08T13:23:00.000-08:00

Every year we eat rosca and comment on how cute the little dolls are. Many times the holiday has been explained to me, but I just never took the time to start the traditions. This year I took the girls to Soriana on Jan 5th to buy our rosca. I told them we would leave it out on the table and see if the three kings like rosca. They also each put one shoe under the tree in hopes that the kings might leave them something. Because it was kind of short notice and because we also do Christmas and Santa, the kings only brought them a piece of candy. But it was a big one. They also left pistachios for Issac and I and a sucker for the baby. When they woke up they got to eat rosca and thankfully both the big girls ended up with the doll. (no fighting) Joslins teacher had asked if we had some to send a piece for her to school because they were going to discuss it in class. I packed a piece away for her and sent it with her. I also made them some abualita hot coco that morning. It was kind of a lot to do on a school/work day but if its only once a year I think we can handle it. Plus once again I feel like it helps them to remember why we even celebrate this time of year. Today I finally got all my Christmas stuff put away and my house back in its original order. Usually I put Christmas stuff away the 1st or 2nd of Jan to start out the year fresh but I do believe I can let this slide and hey as long as its done in January its still the beginning of the new year right. Its been so great to have time today to catch up on my blogging and to clean my house and spend time with my girls. The only bad thing about having Sunday be my only day off is that we have been missing church. Hopefully soon Issac can get Sundays off also to help me drag all the girls in there.

Proxima nivel de Español

2012-01-08T09:56:00.000-08:00

I woke up to Lily fussing and my first thoughts went like this, "Quien es...Oh es Lily." By now she stopped fussing and I thought. "Ahhh que bueno esta bien." Then I thought, "what the heck why did I just think that in Spanish." And I began trying to decide if Im upset about this or not. Not sure I like the idea that my first thoughts in the morning are Spanish. I know that is kind of a good thing but well I need English to be my first thoughts so Im sure to teach the girls well. ........ ¿Right?

Curious to some thoughts here. What do you guys think. I am extreamly paranoid that Im going to some day let the English thing slip. It is very important to me that the girls have two first languages. I want English to be a first language. I want it to be special to them. And not something they have to learn but something they know. Sometimes I catch myself speaking in Spanish at home and I get very upset with myself. Is it possible for me to maintain this strictness about English at home and still grow in my Spanish.

Again thoughts and comments are expected on this post.

Thanks in advance.

Feliz Navidad y Año Nuevo

2012-01-08T09:26:00.000-08:00

This year we were pretty busy through the Christmas season. I think I will always remember this year as the year of Posadas. Iv been in Mexico for four Christmas´s now and this year was the first time I ever saw people sing the Posada at a party. And the funny thing is I saw it twice in one day. We had two work parties one was on a Thursday and is when we had Pozole and they handed out the gifts from the hospital. The director of the hospital thought it was funny that they had a gringa their eating pozole with the rest of them. Seriously how can anyone not like pozole. I sometimes wonder what the heck is wrong with the gringas these people have meet. I received an awesome purse from work. One of the first weeks of Christmas I had told my husband I wanted a purse for Christmas. The purse I had was a year old and I was ready for something new. Then a few days later at work they handed me a catalog and told me I could pick out a purse that was 790p Thats like 75usd, I have never owned a purse worth that much. I was super excited. The first one I picked was exactly that much but they were out of it. The other one I picked was 890p. So I paid 100p for a purse that was like 85usd. Its red and supper cute. When I first saw it I thought it was a little big but it has pull strings on the side that you can use to make it smaller. Anyway that was my perfect gift. Then on Friday they had the posada which included tacos. Some of us stood upstairs (inside) and others stood downstairs in the garden. This is hard to explain if you havent seen the hospital but more or less the hospital is set up like one of those hotels that is open in the middle, and where the pool usually is we have a beautiful garden and fountain. Anyway we (or they) sang all the way through the posada. They had one of the doctors dressed up as Joseph and one of the nurses who is about 7 or 8 months pregnant be Mary. One of the workers also brought a guitar. It was a lot of fun. Later everyone was wanting pictures with Mary so Joseph made a sign that said 10p for a foto with Mary. Everyone got quite a kick out of that. lol I left their right as the Mariachi showed up. I had to head over to the girls school for the posada there. I helped the teachers get everything set up and got me and the girls dressed up just in time. Once everyone arived we sang the Posada their. The kids loved it. I feel like its such a great way to remember what happened and why we celebrate Christmas as Christians. Then the kids broke like four piñatas. Thanks to all the christmas piñatas and birthday piñatas from this week we seriously had a bucket of candy. Issac and I had to bring bags of it to share at work in order to get rid of some of it. After all the fun of the piñatas we ate tamales. They had regular mole tamales for the kids but for the adults they had these amazing ones that were warped in banana leaves. This was also a first for me and if you have not had them you should find some. Seriously amazing. We were invited to another posada where they actually go house to house but we got so busy with just normal stuff here at home that we missed it. I really hope we get invited again next year because it sounds like so much fun. As far as Christmas we had to switch things up a bit this year because Issac and I didnt have a day off together. He had Sat off and since I get off earlier than him we decided Santa would visit that day during the girls nap. We ended up laying them down a bit later than expected because Issac had to help a friend with a flodded shop. But all went well. Instead of sleeping the girls ended up laying in bed playing but it gave Santa plenty of time to fill stockings and put out presents. We were so blessed this last year that we were able to find barbies and princess toys for 1/2 off. We pulled out all the stuff and got right to work. We had found an xbox on sale in October so that was Issacs present. We all were very happy with what we received and honestly although we spent less than 1000p (actually this was given to us by my mom thankfully) we had a wonderful Christmas. Issac and I have decided that from now on no matter how much money we have we will only buy the girls one "big" toy (the barbies) and a couple smaller things that dont cost much. We really want to be carefull not to make Christmas be only a day that they wait for just to get gifts. We buy them the things they want and need through out the year when they are good girls so this works out great for us.

We also got to go to a Christmas/Birthday party at church. Issac had to work that day so it was a bit difficult with the girls. But they had so much fun it was worth it. We had tacos, and cake. The follwoing sunday the girls received their gifts from their classes. Joslins teacher went above and beyond and made little houseshoes for each kid. They are so cute. Christmas morning instead of a service they did skits. One of my favorite stories is of the candy maker and the candy cane. Every year (including this year) I print copies of the story and had it out with candy canes. That was actually our gift for the girls teachers, and we had no idea they would be doing the skit. I was able to leave the baby in the nursery and sit with the big girls and watch and explain the skits. It was a great day for us. And then after we came home Papi got off work early because there were no calls.

New Years was spent here at the apartment with Issacs mom. We all barely made it to midnight and when we did we randomly ate our grapes. But if its true that what you are doing on New Years represents your coming year Im happy with that. I love nothing more than hanging out here at home with my husband. Sure we like going out from time to time but we as well as our girls are quite home bodies. Oh I almost forgot that day we opened our time capsule from last year and redid it for the coming year. We also wrote out our resolutions. Alanas was so cute she wants to do her Dance stretches more at home. For Joslin we want her using English more easily. For lily it was for her to start walking, which she has done this week. lol Mine is to speak better in past and future in Spanish and to try and start my Yoga again. Issac wants to get some schooling which was his goal last year but with all the changes of jobs and such we just never got to it. His new job offers school aid so Im hoping he can get started this year some time, even if it is at the end of the year. Issacs moms was to finish her computer class well. We also talked about our favorite things from the past year. The funniest of these is that Alana said Lilys favorite thing over the past year was her milk. lol

Well that was my Christmas and New Years in a nut shell. Now I want to take some time to read about yours.

FIL Feria Internacional de Libros

2011-12-23T18:08:00.001-08:00

So here in Guad they hold an International book fair every year. This is the first year we have been able to go. When I mentioned at work that I wanted to go with my girls I was told about how they have an area you can leave your kids so you can go look around. Right away I mentioned that my girls would be so sad if I did such a thing. My girls love books. And even in the states I refused to leave my kids with people I don't know. I just cant see how that would be a good idea no matter where you are. The entrance fee was only 20p and the kids were all free. We all had a blast. We made it to the FIL on the second to last day and actually during the last two hours. Most of the books were way to expensive to actually buy but the girls thought it was so cool to see so many books and in different shapes and sizes. Every time there was a place provided they sat to "read." (Only the 5 yr old can really read, lol) They had a couple activities and the girls loved them. We did buy a few books, one of the stands had all the classics for only $25pesos so we bought quite a few of those and some activity books for the girls. On the way to our truck we stopped for tacos and they were sooooo yummy. Anyway this was a lot of fun and I hope we can experience it some more next year and go more than once.

FM2 Renewal 2011/Work permit

2011-12-23T14:11:00.000-08:00

Im so happy to tell you all that this year was a breaz compared to other years. First off I need to remind you all that I have decided that due to the cost we are just going to wait until next year and apply for residency. Their is just more paperwork, tests and money involved in the citizenship so we have decided not to take that route. We went ahead and renewed this year. I went in one day that I had off and turned in my paperwork to tell them that I was working. Due to the fact that my FM2 is familial I don't actually have to ask for permission to work. Its more that I just have to let them know kind of like when you move. For that I just had to have a letter from my place of work saying why they wanted to hire me, I didn't even have to have my credentials verified which was nice considering I don't have an apostille nor translation for my nursing degree or license. While I was their for that I asked for the list to renew my FM2. It was very strait forward and easy. She even gave me all the paperwork I would need to pay the fee and to attach my fotos to if it went through. My husband was going to bring it all in for me so the only extra thing we had to have was a typed and signed letter saying that I gave him permission to do so. He turned it all in on the 14th (I would have been late on the 15th, gees Im becoming so Mexicana, lol). Anyway I waited till now to check the status because before it was always after Christmas that they would have it ready. Guess what it was processed completely ont he 14th and on the 15th it shows that I can come pick it up. Holy Cow. But on the site it looks like they are closed till after new year, pues ni modo. Ill go pick it up in Jan.

My baby is ONE

2011-12-13T20:23:00.000-08:00

I have to tell you I am so glad my baby days are over. Lily is so freaking cute that people just melt when they see her. She actually bats her eyes at people at just the right moment. Even as mommy its hard for me to not fall apart when she does it. On the day of her birthday we went with some really good friends of ours to the park and just hung out. It was so much fun. I'm going to post a couple pics. Then later in the week we had her party at school. I wanted to put a video on that showed the cake but I cant get it to work. Dang it!!!! It was a cute butterfly cake that I made. We had a lot of fun at the party. I had the kids make coffee filter butterflies, we broke a butterfly piñata and ate a butterfly cake and butterfly topped cupcakes. Thanks to a care package I received ages ago I was able to throw the cupcake toppers together in no time and thanks to a different care package I was able to make cupcake holders out of parchment paper. Let me just tell you really quick how easy this was. All you have to do is cut 4inch x4 inch squares from the paper, Then find a jar or bottle that fits just right into your 1/4 cup measuring cup. IF you want better looking cups you need to round the corners off your squares. Center one or a few of the papers, (this depends on how much room you have, the bottle I used fit pretty tight and I could only do one at a time) over the top of your measuring cup. Make sure when you push the bottle into the cup that it is going to be very tight. If the bottle you have is a bit loose in the measuring cup use a lot of pieces of paper. And whoa-la you have cup cake holders. As for making a butterfly cake all you have to do is make a round cake and cut it in four pieces then rotate the pieces until it looks like a butterfly. I used a cupcake for the head and put a pipe cleaner for the antennae. I had also made really cute butterfly invitations.

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-27T06:53:00.001-08:00

Well I have to tell you that I love pictures. In the past I havent been good about putting them on my blog because it was a pain and I couldnt comment after each one easily. Thankfully Blogger has updated and now I can. So this is a picture post.

Sorry I had to delete the pics off my blog, I have decided to keep my blog public no matter how many hateful comments I get. If I made my blog private it would defeat the purpose so instead I will just delete the pictures and refrain from using names in attempt to keep things safe for us.

Me and the girls made Pumkin cheese cake from real pumpkins. They are to young to carve pumpkins at Halloween so I let them help me clean this one.

Lily climbed up on her sisters chair all by herself. TODAY IS HER FIRST BIRTHDAY!

Every year at Thanksgiving we put up our Christmas decorations. Papi always helps put up the tree and I do the ornaments with them.

Alana took this. Im making Deviled Eggs. Not sure why Im making the turtle neck. lol

Alana wanted to take a picture of our Thanksgiving decorations. lol

Papi was off on Thursday and I wasnt so he did the Turkey. He did a great job.

Only one of the five or six people we invited showed up but we still had a lot to be Thankful for

This year it was Joslins turn for the Angel.

Yum!!! We had mashed sweat potatoes, green bean caserol, rolls, gravy, deviled eggs , the turkey and the cheese cake.

Lily started walking with the assist of her toy the day before her birthday!

THE WISH BONE. Here I am explaining it to them.

Joslin ended up winning. The bone was a little wet I guess because they had to practically wrestle over it to get it to break.

There you go folks yet another normal part of my life in Mexico. We missed having more family around but all together it was another great Thanksgiving.

¿The Normal Life?

2011-11-21T05:37:00.001-08:00

The other night I was talking to my husband and I said, "I actually have time to blog now and I feel like I don't have anything to write about."
He says, "Amanda you have tons to write about you live in Mexico."
"Yes but everything seems so normal to me now." I responded.
He looks at me, almost exacerbated,"Then write about that." (somewhere in here I'm thinking oh gee how boring), he continues, "I remember when you first started reading blogs and when you saw that Leslie from Motherhood in Mexico said something to that effect, it gave you hope. That is why you write is to give those other people hope about their life here. I think you need to write about how you feel that your life is normal."

So here is that post.

I'm a mother of three beautiful girls, who every morning wake up at 630. I get them dressed, brush their hair, make a quick breakfast they can eat in the truck and rush them out the door. When I drop them off at school their is almost always something I forgot to put in a book bag, and if not at least one aviso (message) for me to give to a teacher or caregiver. I then zoom off (well not really my truck is a bit broken and I cant go over 30mph) to the hospital. I park and chat with the garage attendant if I have time then run inside to work. On the way in I say buenos dias to everyone I pass even if they are in the middle of a conversation (I guess Im still getting use to that part). After finding out where I'm working for the day I go and care for patients. At the end of my day I'm watching the clock because I'm anxious to get my girls and go home with them. As soon as I can I run out to my truck, of course saying adios to everyone I pass and from time to time stopping to chat. Their is no real running in and out of places here. I pick up my girls, the older two are always running to me for hugs and the baby loves her teacher so much I have to pry her from her arms. I listen to any report from the teachers and we are off. I talk to the older girls about their day on the way home and when I get home I read their report books and check for home work. They do their homework while the baby plays. Then I have Alana do an English website while Joslin watches and repeats. At aruond 530 the baby takes small nap with her milk while I cook dinner. By the time dinner is ready papi is home, and is welcomed by lots of hugs and kisses all around. We eat dinner around 6pm and then the girls get to play and talk with papi about their day. Bath time at 730 and off to bed for the girls. My husband and I then either spend some time alone doing our own thing or doing something together. Traffic and driving here in the city feels a lot like St. Louis, I have Wal Mart (which I cant stand anymore) Sams (which I love) close by and fresh fruits, veggies, and meat on every corner. We have a doctor that we really like. He only costs us 30p a visit, and he is wonderful with my girls. I have figured out how to keep the bugs out of my house. And I actually like the idea of black widows better than brown recluse. (black widows stay home and are usually in a place out of reach for my kids, brown recluse hide in your close and bed).

On days off my girls wake up and crawl in bed with us for a little snuggle time then want to eat. After eating we clean the house, let them do crafts, maybe walk to the park, or play games. We go to church from 11-130 I help in the nursery and my husband helps with translation. We have friends who come over for Sat night collage football, and my girls are happy and healthy. To me this all seems like what I would have been doing in the states. Although I must say Im ALOT more laid back than I would have been if we stayed their. My digestive system is healthier because Im less stressed, and I am able to brush off things much easier than before. Some of this my have come with age (no Im not old) but I know it came a lot faster because of Mexico.

I barely notice anymore that when I'm a pedestrian I don't have the right away, and that I have to teach my kids to run across the street instead of walk. I barely notice that my tissue goes in the trash can and I have to empty that can every day if not twice a day. And what were the other things that were different living here than in the states. I just read a blog this morning that talked about them all and seriously I cant repeat it if I wanted to.

Yesterday we shopped for food for Thanksgiving and for the babys birthday. Lily is turning one this coming weekend. I still have to finish her whole scrap book and baby book and make all the decorations and invitations. This should be a pretty fun week.

This post is for all of you out their who may be struggling with the idea of raising your family here, or who have just moved and need some hope. It took me three years to get to this point. Dont push it, take things one day at a time or how people love to say here poco a poco. Adopt that phrase and do your best to live it. You can do it and you can be happy here. One thing is for sure though you need a supportive spouse who loves you enough to love on you when its hard and encourage you when you get frustrated. Believe me my hubby is far from perfect and has screwed up pretty badly in the past but this is one thing that he has done so well.

I think thats it for now.

IM BACK BABY

2011-11-17T18:53:00.000-08:00

And I don't just mean to blog land. This title is what I put on my facebook post my first day back in the hospital. For any new readers or anyone who just doesn't remember, I am an RN. I have so missed nursing over the last few years but it just wasn't possible at first for me to work. Its still pretty tough but for the most part I don't have any issues. We had an interesting first year in the city to say the least. But we are moving on and are so excited about the year to come. Nothing is ever perfect but we know that and when you are ready for it... well that makes it a little easier.

Basically let me tell you that we have literally taken a 50% pay cut, we moved to a smaller place (which we actually really like), and God blessed us with the fact that we don't have to change the girls school. That is the quick run down.

We didn't have any help with the move so that was a little tough but thankfully we are on the other side of it now. Lucky for you I didn't have net until now so you don't have to hear me complain. lol I still have quite a bit of organizing to do in the girls play area and pictures to hang but that can all be done poco a poco.

The first week of December I will be starting English Classes for the parents from the day care, and anyone else who wants to come. This will help me make up the cost that I owe the daycare. Basically it turns out she is just giving me a location (and clients) to hold the classes. Payments and everything for the class I will be dealing with directly. So now I get to still do the part that I enjoyed doing with the University and actually teach. I'm so excited about that.

Now back to the "I'm back baby part." I am loving the hospital, and I say this after driving home crying yesterday. I had a pretty heavy day yesterday and then I had to talk with one of the supervisors about a few things that really were not that big of a deal but that were very frustrating to me. Basically I had a patient family member misinterpret my body language. The felt like I was nervous about starting their IV (which is actually something I enjoy doing). The thing is I'm not sure what it is about my body language that makes people think I'm nervous. I have had the same problem with Issacs mom, and multiple other people. I admit I'm much more high strung than most people down here but I'm not nervous or anxious anymore. If anyone has an idea on what I might be doing that would portray this please let me know. I think getting some insite would help me out a lot. Really the tears just came from frustration and irritation that a patient would misread me. I never have had problems like that back in the states. And its just not something I'm use to. By this morning I had sucked it up and went back at it. That same patient was a lot more receptive to me today and I think realized that it was a misinterpretation. One good thing is we do have quite a few American or Canadian patients and I enjoy getting to help them out. I have interpreted quite a few times and even when they do have good Spanish it makes them feel better just to have a nurse to speak to in English. Right now I'm doing a lot of floor work and I think eventually they may have me doing more office type work but I'm really happy where I'm at. My husband is doing reservations for a rental company from the states and is really enjoying his job also.

Well that's quite a lot of blabbing for one day. I have so much to say about health care here and nursing here but I will save that for another blog. And really I would like to hear from all my readers to know if you would be interested in hearing that stuff. I get all excited about it but aside from the Mexican Trailrunner I'm not sure if you all are interested. Let me know please.

Halloween 2011

2011-11-17T18:28:00.000-08:00

Well Halloween ended up being quite exciting this year. And I dont even have pictures of the best part. First me and the girls made pumpkin piñatas for a party with the Vaca family, and then we went "trick or treating" at a friends house. I was still a little bummed about the girls not getting to go "real" trick or treating. Well Halloween night I had totally forgotten about Halloween because we celebrated early. And we kept hearing some kids chanting something. For the longest time I couldn't figure out what it was. The finally I made it out they were saying "Quiermos Halloween" over and over. Then it dawned on me that they were prob trick or treating. I ran out of the house so fast it scared my girls and then I saw them....

THE FIRST TRICK OR TREATERS IN 3 YEARS!!!!!!!!

I was at first excited then I realized they were a block past my house. I debated screaming, "Quiero Halloween" really loud and then I figured I would just prove everyone right that gringas are locas. So I went in and explained to my girls what happened. My 5 year old could tell I was really sad that we missed them and said, "Mom maybe they will come back, and if they do we can give them our candy from the party." So we put their candy on a plate and waited......

Then they came in at least three more groups. We gave out all our candy including what I had from before to give the girls as treats. But the girls loved it and were not even sad about giving away their candy. I told them that for sure next year we will be going through the neighborhood chanting right along with the other children. Im already so excited for next year I just cant even tell you. So here are some pics from the piñata and party.

Sorry I had to delete the pics off my blog, I have decided to keep my blog public no matter how many hateful comments I get. If I made my blog private it would defeat the purpose so instead I will just delete the pictures and refrain from using names in attempt to keep things safe for us.

Missing HR

2011-10-30T13:02:00.000-07:00

So I think its safe for me to explain a few things that happened to us over the last few months. First I want to say to all of you who are thinking of getting a job down here. Always remember if there are not benefits and they are paying you cash that you will be getting pushed around quite a bit. We got hired on to a place some time ago and at the beginning we were told they would help me with my work permit and that we would be getting all the benifits (seguro, infonavit, a savings, ext.). After quite a while we realized this wasn't going to happen. On top of all that the lady who was in charge of the administration had it out for me, and she happend to also be the "HR" person. As you can imagine we were in quite a bind. I dont really want to go into to much more detail on that subject just because Im so spent on it and just done with the whole thing.

The good news is that a week ago I started as a nurse at a hospital and have my work permit. Actually it turns out I didnt really even need a permit. My FM2 is familiar so all I had to do was notify them that I am working. It was the same type of thing as for when we move.

Right now Im just getting to know the place and how things work. The idea is that I will help them to get their Joint Commission Certification. It is a great hospital but when it comes to JCI we have a long road ahead of us. Im excited to be back in the hospital, and if you have been reading my blog long you know how much I missed nursing. I actually get off work at a decent time now and I hope to get some more blogging and reading in.

We have recently meet some new friends who we are quickly growing close to. He is here to go to Medical School and his girl friend is here with him. The greatest thing is that my husband and I both get along with them so well. And of course they adore my girls. lol Its nice to because we know they are not going anywhere for a few years.

Last night we celebrated Halloween and I plan to blog about that also. But in case I dont get a chance you can check out Jackies blog http://thevacafamily.blogspot.com/2011/10/twas-night-before-halloween.html

I do have some more pics, and if you check out her page that is my middle one in her undies. She really was dressed up for a little while but she is just and undies girl and when you live somewhere that isnt cold why not let them run around half naked if they want. lol

More to come. I hope soon.

Getting an online income

2011-10-12T10:25:00.000-07:00

Gees I remember when I moved to the city and said I was going to start working that I promised not to neglect my blogging. Well guess what happened. Honestly I have been dying to write but some of the stuff I want to write about needs to wait just a few more weeks.

At that point I will have more time for writing and also feel like I can write from a different perspective.

Entonces...

One thing have managed and can write clearly about is getting a bit of an online income. I have started a profile on ODesk and write articles for a company called. IIU (Internet Income University). This opportunity came thanks to a gringa friend who lives here in the same city as me. I have to say that really this is all thanks to this blog and the friends I have made through it. I met Rhonda through a friend on facebook but who really I originally met here on the blog. So although I have not been a good blog friend I have tried to keep up with people in other ways.

So I wanted to explain a few things about ODesk and getting paid if you live in Mexico. I had to do a lot of reading and figure things out before I found the best way so I want to share and make it a little easier for others. First I must tell you that the incomes on Odesk are all pretty low. But you can make 500usd a month if you work at it and that is a pretty ok sueldo (monthly income) for mexico. With that in mind here is what I found out. Basically the cheapest way to get paid is for Odesk to transfer your money directly to a US bank account (this is free). But if your like me and don't have one nor care to get one there are other options. Transferring to paypal only costs 1usd. BUT and this is a big but... if your paypal account was started in the states or if you put your location as the states when you started it you can not transfer to a bank in Mexico without paying like a 30usd fee (which is a lot of freaking money). So what you have to do is open a paypal account in Mexico and with your address in Mexico. Then you can add your Mexican bank accounts. The only thing you have to remember is that your name on Odesk, Paypal, and bank all should be exactly the same. Also if you transfer less than 1,500pesos you get charged 20p, which really isn't that bad. The other restriction is that if you don't connect a credit card to your pay pal you can only withdraw 5,000p a month. But most likely I will never need to do more than that anyway so this is going to work just fine.

I also want to write more about immigration and obviously what has been going on in our lives over the last months. All that is to come in the coming weeks. Things are going good for us now.

Mexican citizenship on hold.

2011-08-28T18:35:00.000-07:00

Well Im not to happy to write this post nor am I excited about the reasons behind it. This is only a temorary hold but not one I was expecting or wanting. But as the saying goes, "ni modo." God knows best and it looks like we have to wait until after november. I recently had a question by one of my readers about if I have a lawyer an if they should get one. We have never used a lawyer for the immigration process and dont plan to for the citizenship. You do not need one but if you have the money and are willing to spend it you will have a much smother process than I have. This is only one example.

The requisit that we over looked is that you have to have at least 6months left on your current visa. My FM2 is up in December giving me only four months. The guy who was there to accept my application was so nice and worked with us very much. This is one reason we will not get a lawyer. This guy is not going to let us screw up if its not our intention. I say it that way because he basically counceled us on the best way to do things and said that if we chose to go ahead and file now he would have accepted out application. More or less he said if we had applied in July we would have had a better chance of D.F. overlooking the 6month rule. He also said that we could still apply and hope for them to over look it. He suggested for us to wait because if they did not over look it we may have to wait quite some time to get our money and paperwork back. This would cause a problem with my renewal on my FM2 in December. He said that our paperwork was complete but gave us some suggestions on how to polish it up a bit for a better chance at me getting it. He also gave us a better idea of what the interview would be and told me I needed to practice my spanish some more. (I was so nervous and was having a lot of difficulty speaking.) I think just being in the office one extra time before the actuall interview will help me.
I know in the long run having to wait is going to be better for the over all outcome but it came as a blow. I cried most of the way back to work.

Here is our current situation.

We have to go to Tepa to get a different official copy of our marriage lic.,
I will renew my FM2 in November (one month before its up) and have to pay that stinking thing one more time,
my husband will then go to D.F. again for my carta (because by then the one we have will not be valid we are hoping me and the girls can go next time so we can visit with family),
He suggested that I get another cirtified copy of my birth cirtificate because the one I hade was not blue but we are not going to do that,
copy all pages of my passport (we only had the info page),
get a migratory flow letter from Immigration (we will ask for this when I renew,apparently it only takes like a day to get it),
Try to find a copy of my FM2 booklet( they recently went to a card form which for some reason does not have a certain number that he said could be helpfull to them, basically immigration doesnt use this number but external affairs does)
Make three copies of all forms.
He also suggested I read a book called Mexico tiera volcanos along with the book that is on the webpage. (http://www.colmex.mx/pdf/historiaminima.pdf)
Again I want to give you the list that is provided by the office, or actually the web page(http://www.sre.gob.mx/index.php/carta-de-naturalizacion-por-haber-contraido-matrimonio-con-varon-o-mujer-mexicanos)

He was also kind enough to give us all his contact information in case we had questions later. This guy was extreamly helpful, and again this is why we will not be getting a lawyer.

Certificate from D.F. for naturalization

2011-08-07T09:19:00.000-07:00

Number 11 on the list of documents needed for naturalization by means of having a spouse who is a national is: Entregar constancia o certificado de no antecedentes penales expedido por autoridad competente a nivel federal y local depeniendo del lugar de su residencia, en original y fotocopia.

This is a letter stating you have no criminal occurrences from the federal and state. Here is a huge thing to think about first. These letters are only good for two weeks. Let this be the last thing you get together. My husband went and got my fed one a week ago Friday, so we only have one week left to turn things in. Im hoping for Monday. If your spouse is going to get your letter here is what you need.

Your birth cirt, appostilled and translated, Your marriage lic appostiled and translated (unless you got your lic transfered to Mexico,, this is really easy to do and I talk about it in a previous post), His ID, Your FM2 and your passport, and a letter of permission (ee this link http://portal.sre.gob.mx/conreinounido/pdf/Formato_carta_poder.pdf). And make two coppies of everything (Always do this). You show up at Subsecretaria del Sstem Penitenciario Federal in D.F. The line is almost always very long, but according to my husband they are very organized. They take and finish with about 30 people every 15-20min so the line goes really fast. They also have someone who comes down the line checking that you have all the documents you need.

The local one you have to show up personally with a copy of your FM2, passport, and they apparently take a picture of you. Im going to do this Monday morning.

I hope this helped! Please ask if you have any questions.

Obtaining Naturalization and the risks

2011-08-07T08:40:00.000-07:00

I hope to get this post completely finished and published this morning. Mainly because there is a commenter who likes to stir up fear and distress in people who already have enough to deal with. And my whole intention of this blog is to help alleviate some of that stress in others lives. This person likes to appear that they know what they are talking about and loves to leave hatefulness with each comment. I'm only explaining this because I have many new readers since the last time this person took the time out of their apparently pointless life to read and comment on my blog. A lot of times I block the comments to the benefit of my readers but this one had some stuff that I actually wanted to speak to. This comment indicated certain articles proved that I am "stupid" to choose duel nationality. In reality it has a whole section that I am going to copy and paste below to insure you that you will not loose your nationality if you choose duel citizenship. Please feel free to read the whole article. The person who sent this article my way apparently read the first few paragraphs and assumed it would cause fear in an uneducated person. But what actually happened is that I had already read this section of law and I know my rights as an American and what they will be as a dual citizen. The important thing to remember any time you are investigating a law is to read the law and or articles about the law to the end and be sure you understand all of what it is saying. Im not going to post the whole thing here but only the part that helps everyone to realize that you can have dual citizenship and that I will never renounce my American citizenship. Again I want to remind that I am obtaining mine through being married to and having children who are nationals.
If you want to read the whole law or article just copy and paste the title and google it.

obtaining naturalization in a foreign state (Sec. 349 (a) (1) INA);

In September, 1990, the Department of State ("DOS") issued a policy statement which dealth with loss of nationality. The policy statement indicated that DOS would presume a person intended to retain U.S. citizenship where:

the person was naturalized in a foreign country
took a routine oath of allegiance, or
accepted non-policy level employment with a foreign government.

Such a person need not submit prior to the commission of a potentially expatriating act a statement or evidence of his or her intent to retain U.S. citizenship since such an intent will be presumed. It is important to note that the two expatriating acts which arise in the context dual nationality are given the benefit of this presumption.
According to the policy statement, the presumption that a person intends to retain U.S. citizenship is not applicable when the individual:

formally renounces U.S. citizenship before a consular officer;
takes a policy level position in a foreign state;
is convicted of treason; or
performs an act made potentially expatriating by statute accompanied by conduct which is so inconsistent with retention of U.S. citizenship that it compels a conclusion that the individual intended to relinquish U.S. citizenship.

Cases in categories 2, 3, and 4 will be developed carefully by U.S. consular officers to ascertain the individual's intent toward U.S. citizenship.
In order to ensure retention of U.S. citizenship, U.S. citizens may wish to assert their citizenship status by actions confirming a continuing intent to retain U.S. citizenship. These could involve a contemporaneous written statement confirming the citizen's desire to retain U.S. citizenship, submitted to a U.S. consulate or the DOS. The U.S. citizen should also continue paying U.S. income taxes, obtaining U.S. passports, and maintaining retaining property and other ties to the United States after the expatriating act takes place to evidence an intention not to relinquish citizenship. However, as stated in the DOS policy statement, such action is not necessary where the presumption applies.

Let me tell you I dont plan to be any of the numbered cases above.

As to the other section that was posted
I only have to show you the first paragraph and Im not putting the italics in it they were already there.

Section 349 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 148), as amended, states that U.S. citizens are subject to loss of citizenship if they perform certain specified acts voluntarily and with the intention to relinquish U.S. citizenship.

If you googled the first article this law is shown as the second listing.

I will not ever renounce my citizenship nor will I take any oaths with tthe intention to relinquish my U.S. citizenship.

I hope this helped some of you who had questions. I know this not only spoke to the anon comment that was not signed but also to the otheres.

Jennifer I will post later today about how we got paper from D.F.

Mexican Citizenship part II

2011-07-31T07:08:00.000-07:00

Its on people, we have my letter from D.F. saying I have no federal offenses. Monday we will get the one from state and write our letters and fill out the application. The plan is to go to the SRE (http://www.sre.gob.mx/) on Tuesday or Wednesday. I'm not sure yet if I will be given my history test and interview then or if they will set up an appointment. I am studying pretty hard just in case. One problem is that I can not find any examples of the interview online except saying that it is up to the interviewer. So I'm praying that I get someone who is maybe in a hurry or just a really good mood and who likes Americans becoming citizens. I think Ill do OK if they drill me but it will make me nervous. And when I get nervous my mouth doesn't like to speak in Spanish. I already wrote the list of paperwork needed on a different blog so I wont do that again but really the amount of paperwork needed for this wasn't all that bad. The link I posted above is where you go to find your list. Each person is pretty specific as far as how you get the citizenship. After this craziness is over I hope to do some more posts on things like day care, work, and culture so please stay tuned even though I haven't been much of a sturdy blogger recently. ;9

Habits

2011-07-08T12:52:00.000-07:00

Today I am hoping to get a few posts out that I started a long time ago and never finished. Thankfully when I have good ideas I write a little in a draft so I can come back to it later. This post comes because I suppose I thought after three years of living here I would be a much different person.

But in reality some habbits never die or die hard so they say.

For example when we moved here we didn't have a land line and only just recently goten one. Due to our phone being through our cable company it always has to sit near the computer. Nine months is how long we have had it and I still walk into my kitchen when Im looking for it. I guess my subconscious feels the phone should be in the dinning room or kitchen. This is so weird to me every time I do it.

My eating times have started to cure slightly to the late times of the Mexicans now that I am working but my body doesn't like it. As of a month ago I still ate breakfast (something small) at 7am with the girls, maybe a light snack at tenish and a light lunch around noon. Then I would be ready for a full hearty dinner around six. Now that we work till 530 or 6 we eat dinner around 6 or 630 which kind of throws the rest of your meals off. Also the girls get a snack at school around 5 so they don't eat a big dinner like we were use to. Still my body tells me this isn't the way one is suppose to eat. The funny thing is its much healthier eating a small meal in the evening and the larger meal at lunch.

One thing that hasn't changed and Im pretty sure will not is that I love not wearing shoes at home. I have to admit that I do put them on a little more often but its because I don't have as much time to keep my floors clean. And of course my Mexican family thinks I'm insane but I'm sure this isn't the only reason so no need in changing it now. lol

And last but certainly not least is the seat-belts we finally were able to get a third seat-belt but in the back of the Jimmy for Alana. I was a nervous wreck every time we left the house and she wasn't in a seat-belt. I'm happy to say all my children are safely and appropriately belted in every time we are in the truck.

I feel like this was a pretty boring post and I appoligise. Post like these are more for me to document this kind of stuff for my later reading. These are things that when I moved here I just knew would never change and Im happy that they haven't. ;)

Things that have changed are good things like being more patient and calm and not stressing out as badly over anything and everything.

Spider Web

2011-07-08T12:48:00.000-07:00

The one thing I have found absolutely amazing is how thoughtfull all of you are. I have been connected with so many people at just the right time through most of my readers. I imagine a spider web where people who I would never know end up knowing me through someone else thoughtful enough to join us together. Usually this happens without me even looking for it, for example the auther of Southenr Living is the reason Im now living happily and much better off in Guadalajara as compared to the small town of Tepatitlan (which I still love and adore by the way). She and I knew each other through blogging and as she read through some job adds she thought of me. Thanks again girl!
This time Im going to request for each of you to send the word out amongst the web of contacts and help me out. I may have a great job opportunity for a fellow English speaking nurse preferably native to an English speaking country. This most likely will need to be someone already living in Mexico or who is planning to move here already. I specify this because the pay will be good for here but not comparable to nursing wages in the states. Heres hoping I can help someone the way I was helped and of course I gain my nurse at the same time. ;)

One last thing, when I post from work the spellchecker refuses to check in English, so I am so sorry for how bad the spelling prob is on this post and any other I have posted from work. And if any of you have ideas on how that can be fixed please share.

Thanks all

Mixed Emotions

2011-07-04T15:22:00.000-07:00

I have so much to catch up about my life recently but today Im going to write about the crazyness going on in my head and heart regarding the holiday today.

Let me tell you for about five years this was a very bad day for me. My husband had to leave me (his 8mo prego wife) on July 3rd. Obviously that year I was quite bitter about hearing our Anthom and Pledge. The following year he was still waiting for his appointment and I moved to Mexico the end of June the follwoing year. My first 4th of July in Mexico needless to say I was still quite upset about the idea. I still sang the Antem and recited the Pledge to my daughter who was now 2 yrs old and living in Mexico. My second year here I still had the bitterness but it was weakened a bit by homesickness. I still hadnt been able to visit my family at that point and the holiday reminded me of times we would get together. Last year there was little bitterness and a lot of homesickness. I again as I do every year did crafts with my girls and Im pretty sure we ate hotdogs. Well here we are again five years later.

This year I am missing the fair, the fireworks, the greesed pigs, mud vollyball (yes Im from MO), concerts, and my family. For the last week or so I was surprised at how unangry I was. And how I didnt want to laugh at every comment put on face book about our great nation. I really thought that all the bitterness was gone until this morning. I sat in my kitchen reciting the Pledge to my girls, and it just felt wrong. I felt like I was lying to them, like I was out right telling them a bold faced lie. As I repeated UNDER GOD or JUSTICE FOR ALL I keept thinking about the false ideas so many Mexicans have of the US. These notions are one huge pet peve of mine and Im am so worried my girls will end up with them. I dont want them to have this AMERICAN DREAM that everything there is better, and that anything can be done there. Its not true and so many people here are raised with it. And then here I am feeding it to them myself just because its Independance Day in a country Im not even living.

Of course I will still have them practice the Pledge again and make a flag when we get home tonight. And I will smile and act like Im happy about it. But to be honest it feels yucky! Why will I do it anyway... Im not sure. I think mainly so when they do go visit the states they still feel slightly at home, that they fit in, that they dont get stared down or looked at badly for no knowing it when they go to a baseball game.

Some patriatism ehh, only so my kids will fit in later in life.

So... this is more than three years after the initial verdict. Im sure it will get better in a few more years but as for now, Im not quite there yet.

The certainty of uncertainty

2011-05-31T11:42:00.000-07:00

Any one who has lived here in Mexico long can decipher the title of this post. As of yet I still get anxious and frustrated with the certainty of uncertainty around here. To be perfectly honest the only thing you can ever be sure of is that you are rarely sure of anything. Especially if your native language is not Spanish! I find a lot of times todavia that I miss huge sections of meaning in conversations. I will go home and talk to Issac about a conversation we had with someone and find out I was way off. It makes you wonder if you really know anyone or if you ever really understand whats going on. Funny thing is this isn't even what my post is about it just falls under the uncertainty category.

Every since we moved to Guadalajara our job has been a whirl wind. One min not getting paid, next min moving on, next min not moving on, then later changing roles, then maybe moving on, then changing roles..... ext. The other thing that has been up and down is our hours, I do a lot of stuff from home but I'm finding that this is nearly impossible when Issac is at work all day and I'm here with the kids. (Yes I could be spending this time right now working but instead I'm needing to rant... lucky you) On top of this I'm expect to be giving a class at the school which is 2 hours as often during the week as I can. The sticky part is finding part time child care, and toting Alana to and from school. We have been looking into day cares but really I think what we need is a kinder that has a day care. We are suppose to be getting a plan from one via email today and I'm hoping we can take some time to go visit two tomorrow. All in all we are going to end up spending as much on day care as we do on rent every month. Which means no savings or paying back my dad for the hospital stay (having lily). At least not for a while anyway.
The thing is I know I shouldn't stress over this stuff and that God has pulled me through much stickier situations but for some reason the lump in my chest wont listen to reason. I have only felt true anxiety during one stage in my life and it was during my time in the states with Alana while Issac was here. I'm trying so hard to fight the idea that I might be letting it back in again. I dont believe it could ever get that bad again because now when i start getting all anxious Issac is here to calm me down.
The uncertainty comes in that once we finally do find the place to bring the girls no one really does part time. So I will be paying them for full time care and may not really need it. I'm sure many mommies out there can relate to this. So do you let the kids stay there full time and just come home and clean on off time or what? Does that sound horrible. To be honest in my present state a little time at home without the niñas sounds really nice. Gees some of you are shaking your heads thinking how horrible I am but its the truth.
Well thats that folks. To be honest, aside from this speed bump things are good. We still miss our friends but know that is life, Issac and I are happy, my girls are healthy, and we know things will work out. But sometimes chatting with all of you about things helps A LOT!
And here is a little regalito de dios for you

Our visitors

2011-05-29T17:12:00.000-07:00

Our visitors left us Friday morning very early. They had been here a whole week and a half. The Kennedys and Bryan are some of our closest friends and we miss being able to hang out with them other than skype calls. While they were here we got a lot of time to hang out and just be together. Actually we got more of that than originally planned due to some illnesses and a break in. Tell you what Ill just get the bad news out and over with then tell you about the fun we had. On their second day here our house got broken into. Our brand new Xbox kinect (which they brought down for us due to how expensive electronics are here, the cash we had given them for all the stuff they brought us (which was ALOT), and their bag which had their camera and cell phone in it all got stolen. Along with the physical this person stole our sense of safety and comfort. Thankfully we as well as our visitors believe in the security of Christ and know that nothing will befall us that he will not see us through. After about a day of high tensions and I would have to say fear and anxiety on my part at least we all decided it was time to move past it and not let this person ruin their entire trip. Also about a day after that my dear friend Samantha was throwing up all night and took a few days to recover and once she recovered Bryan got sick at his stomach.

Now all that boohooo aside we did have some great times out and inside the house. We took them to some parks and everywhere we went we got to show them the Mexico we know. They also got to join in on our first bible study. We have started an English Bible study here at the house which we are so excited about. This meant a lot to us that we got to all have a study together. I will post more about our bible study later.
For now I want to share some pictures that I think show how much fun we had and how much we love these guys.
Thanks for coming!!

Kids say the darndest things: La batalla de Puebla

2011-05-07T10:36:00.000-07:00

As most of you well know 5 de Mayo is not the Independence nor Revolution day here in Mexico but is a celebration of a big win. La Batalla de Puebla is celebrated mainly in Puebla and in a few other areas but not here. Alana got the day off school but that was about it. She did come home yesterday with a color page of a guy with a gun and canon that said la Batlla de Puebla on it. On the way home from school I asked "So Alana what is that picture about."
"Well this guy is a war hero." Says Alana
"What happened in that war" I ask
" The Mexicans didnt want people in their desert so they tried to kill them."
"Oh my!" I exclaim holding back my laughter. " And then what happened"
" Well the people just walked away." Saying it with a look and tone as if I should have already known this.
"I see."

So there you have it folks 5de Mayo was when the Mexicans didn't want other people in their desert and when they tried to kill those people they just walked away.

I love children.

Dia Del Niño 2011

2011-05-01T16:39:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite holidays in Mexico was this weekend. And its seems really that it is semana del niño. We celebrated with the girls yesterday by taking them to the park for a picnic and they got to play Peter Pan with Papi. I got to be Wendy and protect baby Michel on the blanket. Papi made the girls choice dinner which was burgers and we got pan panadero. Joslin actually sings the song now. lol

As you can see The Captain was even hiding in trees to sneak up on the unsuspecting lost boys.

Then today at church they had a party in their class rooms. The girls came out with a bunch of toys and candy, and from what I hear they got cake, snack drinks, sandwiches, and chips during the party. Also as you can see Joslin got her face painted. Even the baby got a big marshmallow bear which will be given to one of her older sisters. And on top of all this Alana still has her school party on the 4th.

April photo update!!!

2011-04-26T09:40:00.000-07:00

I love this time of year. To me it represents love. The main reason of course is due to Pascua and the resurrection of Christ. It is amazing to think that God could love me this much. The next reason is because our anniversary is in April. And lastly of course there is spring and the coming of new life and what that means. With that brief description here is the update.
We have been doing activities for Easter to help the girls remember the real reason for Easter. Here are some of those photos.

Also we got to go to a passover dinner at church. It was very interesting and enlightening. We learned about the Jewish traditions and the meanings behind them. The pastor also tied in the relation that most of these traditions have to Christ. I had hoped the church would have pics up on the web page of that night but they dont as of now. One tid bit that I was happy to take away is that during the dinner the Jews eat a boiled egg. They do this because the egg represents the hardness of Pharaohs heart. I liked this because I often get asked down here why we do eggs. I never was sure and I usually answer that I think it has to do with new life, spring, and or fertility. But this answer always came up short for me because we are basically saying that a dead egg is a sign of fertility. So I plan for this idea to be more incorpirated into our Easter learning in the following years. And to be honest I have always left passover out of the teaching I do with the girls. I usually just talk to them about the resurrection but considering the passover was the last celebration Jesus had I feel my pastor is right in including it in the teaching.

For our anniversary this year we actually had a baby sitter which was so nice. We got our girls to bed then got all dressed up and headed out for the night. (well really only a few hours but its more than we have had for a long time) We went to a Tango Restaurant. The food was unbelievably good and the entertainment was so much fun. Every "fancy" restaurant Iv been to so far in Guadalajara was missing out a lot food wise. The decor and service is usually great but the food is mediocre. I had filet miñon and Issac had a steak and I cant say Iv had a better one since Iv been in the states. On top of that the prices were reasonable, sure there were plates that were 2-300p but total we spent less than 500p and we were not even trying to limit ourselves. Below are some pics. The pictures of the dancers didnt turn out all that great but you get the idea. They were great and now I want to learn Tango!!!

Then we got to go to Jackies house from the blog "The Vaca Family" and dye eggs. Shes such a good blogger she prob already has the pics up from that day. ;) We had so much fun and the girls loved it.

And then of course there was Easter morning. My cousin had sent me a box of Easter stuff but thanks to Mexico shutting down on Thursday I wasn't able to get it. Alana had once again asked if the bunny could bring her a flash light. I really wasn't planning on that happening but Waldos had the cute little lanterns. For those of you who live in or near a city if you can find a Waldos they tend to have at least a few things for America Holidays year round. The girls spent much of Easter morning in their closets with their lanterns. ;)

Wow so are you on overload!?!?! I could have broke this post up but its all within the same few weeks and we have had a blast.

Dia del niños

2011-04-14T11:39:00.000-07:00

This is one of the things I love about Mexico. And this year since Alana is in school I´m finally experiencing the full extent of it. This Friday the kids are putting on a circus show for the parents. This is kind of a culmination of last day before spring break and the start of Dia Del Niños celebration. I'm really excited about it and for sure pictures to come. Today Alana came home with a coloring book titled Estos son mis derechos. These are my rights. And here they are:

Si tenemos alguna discapacidad es uestro derecho recibir atención adecuada a nuestras necesidades
If I have a disability it is my right to receive attention according to my necessities.
Todas las niñas y los niños tenemos derecho a ser tratados con amor y respeto.
All boys and girls have the right to be treated with love and respect.
Es derecho de todas las niñas y los niños el tener una familia.
It is a right for all boys and girls to have a family.
Todas las niñas y los niños tenemos derecho a jugar
All boys and girls have a right to play.
Niñas y niños tenemos derecho a alimentarnos sanamente.
Boys and girls have the right to healthy food or meals.
Tenemos derecho a expresarnos libremente y a que se nos tome a cuenta.
We have the right to express ourselves and be heard.
Es nuestro derecho recibir educación gratuita.
Its our right to receive free education.
Tenemos derecho a ser tratados con igualdad.
We have the right to be treated equally. (this one has a picture of kids from all nationalities and one kid holding a globe, I love it)
Niñas y niños tenemos drecho a la salud.
Girls and boys have a right to good health.
Tenemos derecho a profesar la religion que nos inculquen nuestros padres.
We have the right to profess the religion that our parents instill in us. (And here in Mexico this even goes for Christianity in schools. There is not a big uproar when the name of Christ is mentioned)
niñas y niños tenemos derecho a un medio abiente saludable.
Girls and boys have the right to a healthy environment.
Tenemos derecho a reunirnos libremente y a participar en lo que nos interese.
We have the right to get together freely and to participate in what interests us.
Todas las niñas y los niños tenemos drecho a un nombre y una nacionalidad.
All boys and girls have the right to a name and nationality.

The coloring booklet was given out by the CEDHJ the Comision Estatal de derchos humanos Jalisco. And if your spanish is good or your just interested here is their web site. http://www.cedhj.org.mx/

caca

2011-04-10T21:08:00.000-07:00

A friend who I have recently deemed my blog idol write this post (http://www.motherhoodinmexico.com/2011/04/kids-say-darndest-things-spanish-friday.html) and made me think of a great idea.

Yes the title of this post is a bit different than most but it will make since believe me.

One thing that is different about raising children in Mexico is language. My girls are growing up learning both. Alana was mainly English speaking until the age of two but Joslin is learning both from the get go. As with any kid when they start using a new word we have to figure out what it is and repeat it to her with the correct pronunciation. The problem is we first have to figure out what language shes speaking. And as with English of course Spanish words sometimes come out slightly funny. Shortly after learning her first few words Joslin started saying CACA!!!! And she said it a lot. I was so frustrated about it and was actually a little upset with Issac because I knew I didn't use that word and neither did her sister. Issac kept reassuring me she didn't hear it from him. Then came the day of realization (thankfully). Jos had just asked me for something and I handed it to her. When I did she said "caca" and took of. I literally did the head cock thinking position and went and got her a cookie.
"Here is a cookie, Joslin."
"Caca, mommi."
I then smiled and Issac and I had a good laugh that night.
She was telling us Gracias this whole time and I was upset by it.
I had almost forgot that her Gracias sounds like caca when she said it to a cousin who gave her something and he had a surprised look on his face. I quickly explained that she was saying Gracias and of course then he got a good laugh.

So Caca all for reading my blog. jajajaja

Friends at the Embassy

2011-04-10T20:32:00.000-07:00

We finished Lilys papers the other day for the US. Instead of putting a list of what all we had to have I am just going to post the link and tell you how our day went.
http://guadalajara.usconsulate.gov/service/passports-and-citizen-services/consular-reports-of-birth-abroad.html
If you go to this site and read through it well you shouldn't have to much trouble getting the papers done.
There were a few glitches in the system and I will tell you how to get around them. First of all the link that is on the site for the Consular Birth Abroad application doesn't work. After many tries and two phone calls I was advised to google it. When I did I came up with this site and the form. First off this is what I googled (CRBA Application Form DS-2029) and it came up like forth on the list.
http://www.google.com/webhp?hl=en#sclient=psy&hl=en&safe=off&site=webhp&source=hp&q=CRBA+Application+Form+DS-2029&aq=f&aqi=g1&aql=&oq=&pbx=1&fp=7b425d6fdff6411c

The other problem we came across was trying to actually book the appointment. I checked at least three or four times a week for a few weeks and finally gave up and called about it. This is the site you go to make your appointment and thankfully they have a phone number right at the top of the page. The good thing is that this phone number goes directly to a person and not a machine.
https://evisaforms.state.gov/acs/default.asp?postcode=GDL&appcode=1

What they told me is that you actually need to check it almost twice a day. Basically the officers that do the interview go in at random times and add their availabilities. I did this for a couple days and finally got my appointment. That was a bit of a pain but really it could have been worse.

Our appointment was set for 8am and we got down there around 720. The line outside was already half a block long so Issac dropped me at the door and went to park with the girls. We had to bring the two older ones because we didn't have a sitter and didn't know till the day before that we wouldn't have one. By the time Issac made it to me they were already letting people in. He dropped the older girls off with me and went with the baby to get her pictures taken. They actually turned out so cute. He got back just in time, I almost got called to the door but the officer changed his mind. A few minutes after Issacs return we were called into the little room where they check you. We have done this before so we came prepared... or should I say unprepared? Because your basically not allowed to bring anything in with you. Since IM nursing the baby this really is no big deal. The little room felt a lot like what you go through at the air port and the officers were really nice to us and the girls. Then you leave that room and enter the office itself.
Issac instantly went sour and claimed he hated this place. I knew from last time the reason is because it looks exactly like the office in Juarez where he was so badly treated. He did his best to keep his head up but I could tell he was antzy and bothered the whole time we were there. When we went in we got a letter and waited to be called. This didn't take but ten minutes or so and this was when we turned in all our paperwork. The only thing that I didn't have was our marriage lice which I was thinking I didn't need. I explained my reasoning and the accepted my papers. The told me I would be called by the cashier to pay. Again this only took about ten minutes and at this point I only paid for the CRBA. I had to wait till it was approved before I could pay for the passport. The next waiting was the longest maybe an hour and a half or so. When we got called up we were happy because although they had a toy corner for the kids my girls were getting restless. As we approached the window we were greeted warmly which was a relief because I think this is the moment when Issac most remembers what he went through before.

Then came the surprise and the reason for the name of this post. After a pleasant hello how are you, I was asked, "Do you write a blog."
"yes.." I said a little hesitantly
"About your family and living in Mexico," she said.
"Yes, yes I do." I said a little more confident.
Then she tells me how she has been following my blog since she found out she would be moving down here. I guess to say a friend at the embassy is a bit of a stretch but really all my readers are more than acquaintances seeing as they know my whole story. So then my husband smiles and says, "See honey, your famous."
Hee heee this is obviously a stretch but it was really exciting to meet someone sort of out of the blue, who reads my blog.
Anyway she had us hold up our right hands and swear that all we had said was true to the best of our knowledge. Then she said that it was ok that I didn't have the marriage lic because they still had it on file from the one I did with Jos. That was a relief and we were thankful they did this. Its one thing you wont see the Immigration office down here doing. She then gave me the form to pay for the passport which only took a few minutes.
The only thing left was to pay multipack for delivery service and we were off. Oh I didn't mention that during the wait the multipack worker had given us the forms to fill out so that was already done at this point. Its so great to see some efficient work when you dont see it very often.
So now we wait on the packages. But at least we know they were approved and my Lilpil can go with me if I need to go to the states.

So here is my shout out to my readers whom Iv yet to meet and those of you whom I have, Thanks so much for reading.

Spring

2011-04-05T13:11:00.000-07:00

In Mexico one of the many ways spring is celebrated is by children dressing up like Animals. I was a bit slow at learning this but next year my girls will be cute woodland creatures. Let me tell you how I figured this one out. A couple Sundays ago my husband let me know that the girls were suppose to dress up in a costume for the following Sunday. The following Sunday happened to be the day we were "graduating" from our class and I assumed it had something to do with this. The Friday before I had seen some kids outside a tienda dressed like a lady bug and a bunny. I thought to myself oh how cute they must be celebrating spring. But was I bright enough at this point to connect the two events before church. The answer is NO, so we ended up dressing Alana like Arial and Joslin like Tinkerbell. To be honest we didn't have animal costumes anyway, and Alana did have another princess in her class who I knows parents are both Mexican. This made me feel a little better as the reality of it hit me during the service when I saw a bunch of woodland characters running around. Ether way my girls looked supper cute and everyone kept saying "ohhh que linda" as we walked by. I wonder how many of them were thinking, "I guess she didnt understand." lol The good thing is I can laugh about it and plan to get animal costumes for next year. ;) Here is a pic of my Spring mermaid and fairy. Oh and an updated pic of mi puerqito.

Casa Jugar

2011-04-04T19:35:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone I hope all is going well.

Most of you know about the childrens home Issacs Aunt runs in Monclova, and for those of you who dont Im adding information on this note. I wanted to help Tia Betty (Issacs Aunt) get the word out about some changes they have going on. Really this is a good thing, the government is putting more restrictions and safety requirements on the homes but they also are not helping to pay for these upgrades. Homes like Casa Jugar are run on prayers and the love of people. So please read below and if there is anything you can do please contact me and Ill get you set up with them.
I have personally spent a lot of time there and know that the children are well taken care of and loved.

First, a brief description of our ministry.

We are a non-profit organization with over ten years in this ministry.

Our lord Jesus Christ called us to share the gospel and help children victims of abuse, neglecting, abandonment, extreme poverty, violation, etc in our city. We are aware of the need those children and their families have to know our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and have him as their savior. Our ministry is based on that principal. We provide them with housing, food, clothing, proper education, family values, among other basic needs.

The enforcement of these requirements is based on several different issues and disasters found in different foster homes, like fires, lack of good service and illegal actions, such as fake adoptions.

By law, we must have a “Feasibility license” which is issued once we’ve covered all of the following:

Be legally Constituted
Have Internal Regulations
Have a license from the civil protection department
Have a license from the health department
Have a primary care physician
Have a nurse
Have a psychologist
Have a social worker
Assistants
Cook
Driver
Maintenance personnel
Equipped doctor’s office
Dormitories
Dining room
Administration office
Recreation area
Rest area
Insurance

The secretary of the civil protection department visited us and among other things, these were some of her safety concerns:

Electrical wiring and system repair
Relocation of butane tank with a chain link fence
Chain link fence around the water cistern

With the blessing of The Lord our God we’ve been able to slowly meet part of these requirements. Here’s a few:

We have created new internal regulations and statutes that have been legally written by an attorney. (cost: $5,000 pesos). these regulations were sent to the main office in capitol city Saltillo.

Our constitution has also gone under several changes based on the new requirements. (Cost: $7,000 pesos)This charter will be presented at the Public Property Records Office.

The license that the civil protection department issues are based on a certification a supervisor gives. There has to be a contingency plan, first aid training, evacuation route, fire extinguisher training, etc.

The cost for this certification is $13,500 pesos. The Lord has shown us His favor, since the certified person we found is Christian. Him and his wife came to see our home and told us they would do it and we would only have to pay for the paperwork and other expenses, such as evacuation and extinguisher signs. It would be about $4,000 pesos approximately. They will also give us a good deal on the fire extinguishers we need.

We were also able to find a doctor and a psychologist that are voluntarily helping. We still need a nurse, a social worker and a secretary.

There’s also a person who is helping as the chief of maintenance and he is doing some plumbing and electrical repairs. There’s still a lot to do when it comes to maintenance:

Chain link fence around the cistern and butane tanks
Replacement of old piping ($4,000 pesos aprox.)
Install conduit for the electrical wiring underground and rid of the old obsolete wire
Drywall (sheetrock) exposed areas in different locations and replace old drywall
Build a nurse’s station
Replace broken water gauges
Replace light switches and set them at a certain height
Fix basketball court
Fix soccer field

We believe all these requirements can be met because we can see that God is helping us in so many different ways. We invite you to help us mainly with your prayers, but also with labor or an offering according to your hearts. Our desire is to continue doing this work, witnessing the gospel not only to the kids, but also to their families.

I have not received instruction from our God to give up and not continue with casa hogar; things have not been easy since the beginning of the year, and even though we grow tired and feel week we press on. The facilities we are in are very old, this used to be a seminary school back in the 50’s so you can imagine how much work is yet to be done. Our furniture as well is not that new, but our main focus is not to give and have fancy things for the kids, but to give the love, warmth and care only found in our Lord that they so desperately need.

God gave us this ministry back in the year 2000 through His word in 2nd Corinthians 9:8 “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need you will abound in every good work”

Once again, thank you for all your love, support and prayers

May our Lord bless you abundantly!

Getting use to living in Mexico

2011-04-02T21:34:00.000-07:00

Lately I have had quite a few of those moments where you look around and think,"Wow, not to long ago this would have seemed very strange to me." Ill share them with you, then I would love it if you would share yours.

1) While shopping at the tiangis we saw a fish stand that looked excellent. His tuna steaks were a great price and looked so good. We told him we wanted some. Hes says no problem but these have been here a while and I dont have enough to fill your order anyway. If you can wait just a min we will bring in the other fish. Ok no problem. The kid standing close by immediately goes off down the isle. While we wait we buy a coke from the cloths stand behind us and let Joslin the two year old point and try to name all the fish and sea food laying out on the ice. Then up the isle comes the kid with a cooler on wheels with a fish head out one end and a tale out the other. This fish was huge!!! They plop it up on the cutting board and right there in front of us all start to cut it up. And we all just continue talking as if this is no big deal. He then cuts us some thick red lovely looking steaks, we pay and were off. It wasn't till I was in the truck that I realized this should have been odd to me.

2. At almost every major stop light in Tepa there are people hacking items from pens to phone cards, to kiddy pool, and large maps (this list could go on forever). Also there are those who do an act with fire batons, dancing, or try to clean your window. I basically refuse to give any of these people money because I know from looking around their are places hiring and these guys have made the choice to be out here. What made me saw wow this time is that Im so use to them being there now and I just dont even make eye contact or look at their items anymore. I also automatically just shake my finger and mouth NO to the window washers with out a second thought.

3. This one I was kind of sad about when I noticed it today. I take for granted that there are many places where I can look at the horizon and see small mountains. I just adored this when I first moved to Mexico. And since they are larger here around the city than Tepa it use to be one of my favorite reasons to come to the city. Today I was staring right at one of them and was to busy inside my head to notice. When I did notice I thought yeah I see it every day.

4. Other things I take for granted and I wonder how I ever lived without them is the Carnaceria and Papaleria close to our house. Today we went to both we spent less than 200p at each and you wouldn't believe how much we got. The crazy thing is that these places are so small but always seem to have everything you are looking for. If you dont see it just ask and they will pull it out of somewhere. The Carnaceria we go to is so clean and organized. And the fun thing is it has all the normal every day stuff but they also have a pretty good selection of specialty items.

My thought is that I need to be putting more of these things in writing so I dont forget them as they become a part of my every day life.

I think that's all for now. I have actually been trying to make notes as I think of things to blog. I often have great ideas and by the time I get to sit down and write a post they have all gone.

bookmooch

2011-03-31T20:17:00.000-07:00

Many of you who have been reading my blog awhile have already read a post about this site. But I have quite a few more readers now and a lot of them are here in Mexico. This site is a book sharing site. Basically you post an inventory and you send books. Every book you add and send you get points and can order from other people all over the world. If any of you join let me know so I can check out your inventory.

bookmooch.com

TB vaccine Mexico 2011 / Also other healthcare info

2011-03-21T18:35:00.000-07:00

I blogged about Lilys vaccines awhile back. Here is a bit of an update. Her TB vaccine was given to her Feb 2. Usually with in 2-3 weeks you get the lump then in another couple weeks you have weeks of gross green pus coming out. We waited and waited and waited and never did Lily get her lump. A month after her vaccine she had a cold and we took her to the doctor. While there we explained about her vaccine. The doctor told us to wait until it had been a month and a half and if still nothing showed we should bring her back to the nurse who gave it to here. Its kind of odd but our "family doctor" is a walk in consult out of one of the pharmacies. We tried a couple different pediatricians here and didn't like any of them. We know this particular doctors hours and she is great with the girls. She doesn't jump to prescribing antibiotics every time we bring them in with a cough or runny nose and the girls like her. I told her about some of the things the other pediatricians told me and she agreed that they were off. So we told her she was now our family doctor and she was great with that. The only thing about this is that at pharmacias they dont keep any type of patient records. So you kind of have to keep them yourself and stay on top of things. Also if we ever need to go to the hospital we wont be visited by her. Our appointments are only 30p each that's a little less than 3usd a visit so its worth it to me to have a competent and cheap doctor. We were planning on taking Lily back next week anyway because she is due now for her four month shots. And low and behold yesterday the lump showed up. Its not in a circle like Joslins was but more of a line and almost a 1/2 inch long. I hope this doesn't mean her scar will be like that. So we have some nastiness to look forward to in a couple weeks. We are still going to go get her four month shots sometime next week also. Ill keep you updated.
For my husbands recent procedure we ended up going through the private system. You see here the seguro or public system actually does this procedure for free. But when we tried to go through them we couldn't get a hold of anyone. We looked into the hospital where I had Lily and my OB suggested a urologist. It cost us about 4,000p total including the doctor appointments and labs beforehand. We still have one or two appointments coming up which will be around 500p each. As with before I still think Mexico's health system is structured way better than the US. I feel like I have a lot more options and I´m not paying an arm and a leg for insurance.

St. Patrics Day party

2011-03-21T17:26:00.000-07:00

We had so much fun this weekend. We had at least 6 families over for a St. Pats bar-b-q. In order to decrease the work load a little we had everyone bring their own grilling meat and a side dish for a pot luck. My husband had his little procedure done on Friday (yeah for me and freedom), and the party was sat so it was kinda hectic for me. But he helped with what he could help with and it was all really great. We already had the party planned when the doctor gave us his date and he refused to let me change the date. He knew how excited I was about having everyone over. Anyway a couple of the families write blogs that are on my blog roll, arms wide open, the vaca family, and refried beans. The other families I meet either trough facebook or just out and about. I had papers printed up for the kids to color, we had the pool ready for them and they also had fun just playing in the girls room. The only thing I regret is that I feel like I was to busy to talk to anyone very much. There were at least two of the families that this was our first time meeting them and dont feel like I know them much better than I did before. But this was just a start to many other get togethers I do believe. A funny thing that came out of having this party is that my husband and I are kind of rediscovering what we love about each other so much. For example I'm a pretty upfront person, and Issacs is a pleaser. Basically if its not a work situation and your at my house I speak my mind and let you see the real me. I'm far from fake and what you see you get. Because speech, and body language even, have a lot to do with this part of me I guess Issac really hasn't seen it in a long time. Anyway I think everyone ended up having a good time and I hope we get to do it again.

visitors coming

2011-03-15T12:37:00.001-07:00

Hey all, we actually have friends coming down in May. We are so excited!!! My mom came recently but other than her no one has come since we first moved to Mexico almost 3 years ago. We want to show them a great time. Any ideas on what we should do in or around Guadalajara would be much appreciated.

The differences

2011-03-15T12:36:00.001-07:00

I have been thinking lately about all the differences between living in a small town in Mexico and living in the city. My life has changed so drastically over the last 6 months sometimes its hard to remember what it was like before. Let me tell you for the most part all is so much better. Just to get it out of the way Ill start with the things that were better in the small town. We seem to be sick a lot more often here. Its like there are just more germs in the city. And... well... that's all the bad stuff so now we get to move on. One of the biggest realizations came a month or so ago. There are so many opportunities here for us. In the small town my husband was working almost 12 hours a day 6 days a week and it was so horrible for our family. We recently found out how easy it is and will be in the future for him to find a job that only requires 8 hours a day, he wont be bringing anything home, and he would get paid pretty well. Just knowing English here goes so far, where as in the small town it was just a novelty. This was huge when we figured this out. Its so freeing to know you dont have to put up with being walked on. The other thing is a social life. I actually have one!!!!! For those of you who have been reading a while you know that this was the big thing I missed from being in the states. Issac and I are both very social people. We love to be in a crowd and having get a together or even going to them is something we have always done so well at. That may sound funny but to be honest he and I have a hard time doing some things together. But we mesh so well when it comes to our kids or social events. I also love going places and just having such a span of a city to check out. There is still so much we haven't seen or done and there will be for some time. We actually have the option of seeing a movie at the theater in English now. We have Sams, Wal-Mart, Superama, better tiangis, and much better options when it comes to buying furniture for much cheaper. The girls have more options for different classes, for example we have Alana in dance now. She loves it and we are already looking forward to her performance in July. Most of all we have found our church. We actually had a family day at the park with church a couple weeks ago and it was so fun. Ill post some pics of it here. I am so overwhelmed by how much God has blessed my family. He really is good.

Fun fun fun

2011-03-05T18:50:00.000-08:00

I am absolutely loving living in the city. Iv meet so many gringas lately I just dont know what to do with myself. Yes I said gringas I know the proper term would be gueras but you know what I am one so I can say it. And some days I fee so set apart from this country that I feel like a true gringa. Truthfully things had gotten pretty smooth for me as far as not feeling sad or out of place. And then God moved me into the city where I feel at home. Seriously this place feels like St. Louis except everyone speaks Spanish of course. Super Bowl I actually went to a good friends house (Refried Dreams-check my list) to "watch" the game. Really it was just a good excuse to get together and hang out but that is what the game has always been for me. And Issac really enjoyed getting to sit around and watch the game with some other dudes. Then a different night on a spur of the moment type thing I got to go over and just have a glass of wine and talk. Wow, I finally have people to do something like that with. The good thing is she lives close enough to me that its not dangerous or scary for me to skip over to her house. Tonight I just got home from an awesome play date for the girls. I got to go hang out with the writer of the Vaca family blog you can check it out from the list of blogs I read. while there I got to meet another good friend of hers and all our kids just had so much fun tearing her house apart. Sorry girl I hope nothing was really broken. ;) We talked and talked and before I knew it the sun was on its way out of sight and I needed to get home. Joslin was out not even 5 min after we got in the truck and the whole way home Alana was telling me all about her new English speaking friends. Lily of course had no clue but I'm sure she will fit right in as they all grow a little more. I think the best thing is that as I was leaving we decided to make Easter plans. Easter is one of my favorite holidays. I love remembering that my Lord lives and at the same time I love baskets and candy and boiled eggs and Easter egg hunts and pretty little dresses and... and... I could go on for a bit. And on top of all this my cousin should be sending me a box chalked full of Easter stuff from the states. I feel like I'm on something I'm so hipper and excited about this. lol Well I of course forgot my camera so below are some other pics Iv been meaning to put up. As a family we had all gone on a walk one day and found these huge rolls of drafting paper out by someones trash waiting to be picked up. So we grabbed a couple. We are having lots of fun with it. I'm also adding a couple of the baby to show you how chunky shes getting. At her three month appointment she has more than doubled her wt. She is 6.25K!!! And of course the others are of my handsome husband making flower tortillas. Sigh!!! Could anyone ever wonder why I'm so in love?

Sorry I had to delete the pics off my blog, I have decided to keep my blog public no matter how many hateful comments I get. If I made my blog private it would defeat the purpose so instead I will just delete the pictures and refrain from using names in attempt to keep things safe for us.

Mexican Citizenship

2011-02-24T11:51:00.000-08:00

Ok here is the list that I have for me. Mind you I think there is different list for almost every one. To get this list he had to know the following:
What type of FM2 Im on (mine is familial)And how long Iv had it (I just am now finishing my second renewal)
If My husband was Mexican (he is)
If I had Mexican children (I do)
And what Country I'm originally from. (USA)

1)you must be of age and civil rights

2)your oiginal document and two copies of the solicitudDNN-3, which can be downloaded from the website of the Foreign Relations Secrataria that can be filled by machine or by hand with black ink and print legibly. http://intapp.sre.gob.mx/images/stories/docnatnacio/dnn3.pdf

3)The original and three copies of all pages of your FM2 and you have been here for two full years after your first applications.

4)A citified, apostilled, and translated copy of your birth certificate and three photocopies of it.

5)The original and three photocopies of my passport

6)My husbands proof of citizenship: His birth certificate and two photocopies of it.

7)A certified copy and three photocopies of your marriage lic. from the regitro civil mexicano. And the date of marriage has to be two years before you apply.

8)A statement of truth for what you are applying for.

9)Original and three photocopies of the ID of my spouse.

10)Proof from the office of safety that I have no federal or local offenses. ( I think one of these has to come from Mexico city)

11)A statement of truth from my husband about what we are applying for

12)Prove that you can speak spanish through a person interview.(they told me to talk to Mexicans to practice) and take a history test which has a study guide. http:www.sre.gov.mx/tramites/nacionalidad/guia_estudio09.pdf

13)4 recent pictures in color, 4.5 by 3.4cms with white background, full face, without glasses, head uncovered.

14)payment of 1,250pesos

For an appointment write to lbguzman@sre.gov.mx

FM2 renewal what I needed

2011-02-24T11:40:00.000-08:00

Here is the list for the original renewal:
1) The form from www.inm.gob.mx with signature (on the left side click solicitudes de Tramites, under estancia click vivo en mexico y quiero, the first line is extender la estancia, and the secound would be refrendo de inmigrante, Then your info)

2)A full copy of and the origianl of your FM2

3)Proof of pay

4)A written statement of truth for what you are applying for.

5)5 photos 2.5 x 3cm, 3 in front 2 of side (most places close to the office know exactly what to give you if you just tell them what its for)

Always make tow copies of everything, and if your FM2 is familial or under someone else get a couple copies of their ID

I also always have an extra full copy of my passport in case its needed.

Address change list.
This time around all we needed was the new lease and an electric or water bill to prove we lived there.

Please note: Always go into your office and ask for what you need. I hear some offices may differ.

FM2 renewal 2011, vist 3-5

2011-02-24T11:00:00.000-08:00

My previous post was about how I found out what I needed to do to fix the mistake I made by putting my country as Estonia. Trip number three went something like this. I had been told all I needed was a copy of all the papers I had from the first time and to redo the application. No problem one lesson I have learned is to make a full extra copy of everything I turn in for my records. So I went online and redid the application and checked it three times to make sure it was right. I then made two more copies off all the other stuff I had from the first time I applied. When I got to the desk she realized I had put an extra 5 on one of my ID numbers. OH my gosh am I an idiot... well no not really I have an astigmatism and haven't had my eyes checked in over a year. She had to show me each number one by one before I could see the mistake. After going across the hall and fixing this I turned it all into her and got my next print out with my information that I could check online. This all in all took over 3 hours.
Next after checking online and the status saying that I needed to go in and check on it we made the plans. I went in with my print off and got a number. This time I waited for almost 3 hours before being called again. They informed me that now I needed to pay for the address change. Thankfully the whole time I was waiting I was talking myself into the idea that I wouldn't actually be picking up my FM2 card that day. All that was needed she said was for me to go pay the fee (using the form they give you at immigration) and to bring them back one copy of my print out and two copies of the receipt. It was already 1230 and since they close at one I decided to do it all the next morning. Last Friday I made my fifth trip to immigration in a month and turned in my payment. She printed me off a sheet but it didn't have the info to check it online. She told me to use my old info and wrote down a new clave for me. I have tried this online multiple times this week and it is not working. For now the plan is for me to go check into it tomorrow morning.
I have been slacking on actually putting a list up so Im going to do that now on another post.

Undo me

2011-02-14T08:29:00.000-08:00

This is the title to an old song by Jennifer Knapp that Iv always loved and that always seems to be on hand when I need it. I recently went through a process that was both scary and frustrating. But you know what during it all I just knew that God would pull us through. I held on to the truth of his word and remembered all the times he has provided for my family at just the right time. And guess what guys he did. We were provided for and not only that but also given a certainty that this type of things shouldn't happen again any time soon. This faith that I had is something that God has been working on in my heart for years. I cant explain to you how thankful I was to him for the peace I felt the whole time. But guess what I will forever be a work in progress, as we all are. God will continue to put me through his fire to purify me, because I'm to chalked full of self, and the world to be purified completely while I still breath the air of this world God made. So now he is working on me with dealing with anger and tranquility. The song I spoke of above is about God undoing us and changing us into a person more like Jesus. And in this case it has reminded me that I am not innocent of hurting others and sometimes even those who I actually care about. Sometimes even I do stupid things that may hurt someone so who am I to judge and be angry and another person for the same. I look at my situation and realize that Christ would forgive, and turn his cheek. He would do this even though he knew he would probably have to do it again soon. Moving on and letting go of the anger I feel is not going to be easy but I know that's what I need to do. I'm thankful for a conversation with a good friend last night who reminded me that sometimes you just have to bite your tongue and push through the moment. The funny thing is all of this and other things she said to me is the kind of stuff I tell people all the time. But dang it when your the one in the situation its hard to remember you own good advise. Its so nice to have friends again who I can call when I'm frustrated and need to vent. So after a lot of prayer, venting, and chatting with friends and my husband I know I can come out on the other side undone. Meaning I'm letting God rebuild me. Here are the lyrics to that song.

Undo Me by Jennifer Knapp
Papa, I think I messed up again
Was it something I did?
Was it something I said?
I don't mean to do you wrong
It's just the way of human nature!

Sister, I know I let you down
I can tell by the fact
You never come around
You don't have to say a thing
I can tell by your eyes
Exactly what you mean

That it's time
To get down on my knees and pray
"Lord, undo me!"
Put away my flesh and bone
'Til You own this spirit through me Lord,
Undo me.

Mama, I know I made you cry
But I never meant to hurt you
I never meant to lie
While the world shook its head in shame
I let you take the blame

Brother, I know you labored
So hard to please
But I cut you down
And I left you on your knees
Well I know it must be

Time to get down on my knees and pray
"Lord, undo me!"
Put away my flesh and bone
'Til You own this spirit through me Lord

I am wanting, needing, guilty and greedy
Unrighteous, unholy; undo me. Undo me!

Abba Father You must wonder why
More times than Peter I have denied.
Three nails and a cross to prove
I owe my life eternally to you!

And it's time
To get down on my knees and pray
"Lord, undo me!"
Put away my flesh and bone
'Til You own this spirit through me Lord,
Undo me

FM2 renewal, address change, citizenship

2011-02-04T13:36:00.000-08:00

Ok guys my spell check is acting all crazy so good luck reading this one. lol
I was suppose to go check into my FM2 renewal on Monday but I forgot to bring my papers to work with me. So today was the big day. I let my student go a little early and I headed out of the school around 1130. I only took one wrong street and was quickly able to right my path. (this is a major acomplishment here by the way) When I pulled up to my normal parking garage it was full. I actually didnt panic but did call the hubby to ask if he knew of another one close by. The only one he could think of we usually dont use because its so busy that cars are always backed up the street trying oto get into it. Well today I was one of the cars that was backed up the street. I was parked and inside the immigration office by 1230 (I made excellent time concidering the traffic here that time of day). I immidiatly asked a gaurd if I needed to get a number (fecha) or if I just needed to go through the information line. He gave me a number and pointed to the side of the room I would be waiting. I noticed that they were on number 33 and I was holding number 76 in my hand. I hadnt had the time to pump (milk for Lily) before leaving the school so I figured I had plenty of time to do that now. I went down to the public restroom and took care of buisness. On my way back up I noticed the area that I needed to go to ask about citizenship and realized it was only 1 o'clock. I was pretty sure my number wouldnt get called for at leaset another 30min or so, so I stopped in. After asking a couple people I was sent to a room that had three desks in it. There were people already at two of those desks being helped and the other worker was on the phone. Once he got off I explained to him in my best Spanish what I needed and after only a short time I left with a list of things I would need. It seems that there are different lists for almost everyone. He needed to know what type of FM2 I was on (mine is familiar) if it was my husband who was supporting me, where we got married, and if I had Mexican children. After typing all this info into his computer is when he pulled up the list and had it printed off in the other room. I will put the list on a different post because I want hubby to translate it first so I dont get anything wrong.
Then I headed up to the immigration stuffy room. They had by now closed the door and stoped giving out numbers but the gaurd recognized me and let me in. It was now 115 and they were only on number 49. So I texted back and forth with the hubby and played suduko (I actually dont like the game because I cant beat it but I keep playing it because I cant beat it). When I finally got to the desk the guy that was helping me was so nice. (they usually are but I was a little nervous since I was alone) As a reminder and also a correction of what I thought previously, I put that I was from Estonia on my renewal (before I thought it was on the address change). The form was on a touch screan computer and apparently my fingers are to fat to pick the right country. He told me that I basically have to resubmit all my paperwork and that I dont have to pay again but just show them a copy of my pay reciept. This was a huge relieve. He also gave me a document that had a list of all that I needed to bring in and a sworn statement kind of thing saying I knew that I had screwed it up. This list I will also type up later after I can get conformation from the hubby that Im understanding it all correctly. The good thing is that he said that once I turn in the papers that I will get my FM2 very quickly because its just a little change and they were expecting it anyway. So I have a feeling it may already be there they just cant give it to me until I refile all the proper papers. Because he was being so nice I went ahead and asked him about our birth cirtificate ordeal with Lily. I asked him if it really would never be a problem for her or for me. He said now and that I could always prove that I was legal and that my papers were just in process. But that it really should never even come up. I even asked if it would be a problem with her US stuff and he said no as long as I wait till I get my FM2 back to file here. Which I was planning on doing anyway.
I then of course headedout to my truck but needed to stop at the ATM before hand. As I was walking down this busy city streat feeling as comfortable as if I were in St. Louis I had one of those wow my life is so odd moments. Not sure if any of you have them but I know I do. Its like I normally just go about my day and dont even think aobut it but sometimes its like something slaps me in the face and makes me look around. And then I think wow, I never would have known Id bee here even 5yrs ago. Its not a bad feeling or anything, just a wierd one.
Any way my next post will be chalked full of real information and not just the story line. :)

Inrolling in government school in Mexico

2011-02-04T09:16:00.000-08:00

Ok guys Im taking the lazy way out on this one. A good friend who has been here much longer than I wrote a wonderful and informative post on getting your child inrolled in school here. So instead of rewriting something that has been so well stated here is a link to her blog.

http://www.motherhoodinmexico.com/2011/02/important-information-for-moms-dads-in.html

Childhood Immunizations Mexico

2011-02-03T19:50:00.001-08:00

Here we go for round two of Mexican Immunization. Let me tell you I'm learning so much right now from the nurses in my class so I will filly you in also. First off ALL BABIES no matter what income get free immunizations. Thank God for this one because we dont have seguro this time around and also dont have the money for the full price ones through the private doctor. I also found out that ANY pregnant women has the right to receive free health care with he seguro.
Speaking of which, as a side note, we are relying on the nurses check ups along with her immunizations now because the private pediatrician was just to expensive. His appointments were 500p a piece which isn't bad in American standards but were not rollen in the money. I'm pretty sure he thought we were though because he at one point prescribed us a cream that was 500p for our babies face. I started putting regular baby lotion on it and that cleared up the problem.
Ok back to Immunizations. Because it is a new place and all my husband brought Lily in for her shots. I was very proud of him for doing it because he really cant handle seeing the girls get stuck. Anyway he went in at 7am and he said everyone was very helpful. The did initially tell him that they dont start immunizations till 830 and that there was no separate place for him to be if he didn't have seguro insurance. All he needed was the babies birth certificate which he had. He saw that there was already someone else there waiting and thought it best to just wait. Its a good thing he did also because by 8am when they actually did start taking people there where at least five people behind him in line. Issac said the nurses were very nice and willing to answer any questions he had. They were either out of the Immunization cards or they just assumed Issac forgot his. He didn't think anything of them putting the information on a piece of paper so he didn't ask. We are to bring her back in on the 17th for another one so we will get the card then. I'm not sure what that one is for because he didn't ask (that's a man for you, lol). Normally here in Mexico at the time of birth they give the tuberculin vaccine and the hepatitis B vaccine. But in the private hospitals they give you the choice, because if your baby gets these vaccines there they will be very pricey. We turned them down in the hospital so at her 2month shots she got the tuberculosis vaccine in her arm, the pentavalent which is a 5 antigen combo putting together our DTaP (Diphtheria, Tetanus, and pertussis) with Hib (which causes meningitis and pneumonia) and Hep B in her left leg, and the neumococica (prevent pneumonia), and her Hepatitis B in her right leg. The still get the last two vaccines mentioned with the pentavalent due to the different trains for those infections. I found a cool abstract herehttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12349263 in case you want to read more about the pentavalent being given in Mexico.
So now I have the big nasty pussing wound to look forward to on her arm in a couple weeks. Yuck I hate the TB vaccine so much. I suppose that's all the info I have on this subject for now more to come after the 17th. Maybe Ill go this time so I can have a more detailed description. Actually he did a great job and did come home and give me as much info as he could knowing I wanted to post it all. ;)

The Perfect Evening

2011-02-01T05:39:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was such a great day I decided to post about it. We actually have these evenings a lot but I just haven't had the time for random postings. On Monday I finished my Medical English curriculum editing and all. Of course it still needs to be edited by someone other than myself but my part of it is done. Needless to say I headed out of work in a great mood. We also had a new nurse who wants our program come in which was great news. On my way out the door I called home to let them know I was on my way. Alana was excited I was coming home and told me she had made something for me. She is seriously the most thoughtful kid ever. She is constantly drawing things for people and I have to put them away with their names on it until I see them again. I had also just pumped so I wasn't driving like a mad lady trying to get home to feed the baby. I drove home with a smile on my face ignoring all the traffic. Not having a radio in the truck kinda sucks but I really try to use this time to talk to the Lord so I also got a little time in with Him on the way home yesterday. When I got home Papi was at the table with the girls doing a craft and he told me he would do the dishes soon. Ahhh no dishes to do. The house was fairly clean and all I had to do was make dinner. While I made dinner with "help" from Joslin my one year old, Papi made flower tortillas with "help" from Alana, and Lily sat in her bouncy seat in the middle of the kitchen watching us all with interest until she fell asleep. Dinner was delish and my husbands tortillas rock. Middinner we ran out to buy some sweet bread from the pan panadero car. We actually saved this for breakfast because for desert we ate the fresh warm flour tortillas with cajeta. After dinner Papi played on his guitar while the girls actually played with out fighting to much and Lily sat watching Issac play. Soon it was eight o´clock and time to put the girls to bed. We did our nightly routine with out to much fussing and Issac and I even had time to watch a movie after the baby fell asleep. Don´t get me wrong we also have the nights where everyone is running around yelling at each other and 8 o´clock never seems to come fast enough. But really nights like last night are more common and this is the blessing God has given me for obeying and moving to a land far from and different than my first home. I have to say first home because I do so feel at home here now. I no longer talk about when I visit "home", its when I visit the states. I cant imagine being away from here for more than a couple weeks, and to be honest we are not planning on me going back for at least a few years. With the baby and the fact that Issac can travel with me to help me there is no way I would go now. And really Lily needs to be at least three or four before I think it would be a good idea. For now we are hoping to save enough to help my younger sister get her whole family down here. So there you have it folks, being content really does become reality and I'm so glad that after almost three years I can write this post.

Government school in Mexico

2011-02-01T05:12:00.000-08:00

For Kinder we have opted to have the girls go to the government schools. With Alana she already knows everything in English that they will be teaching her in Spanish. Actually she already knows most of it in Spanish also. So we decided it would be silly to pay a ton of money for her to go play with friends every day. Its a good thing we decided that to because we dont quite yet have the income we were expecting. Here in Mexico they have three years of Kinder. The first year at the age of three is optional and is a lot like preschool in the states. We opted out of that year and started her at the beginning of this school year. If you remember we were living in a smaller town when we started her and she loved it. I was having a hard time with her teacher there but was glad for her to be in school. When we moved to the city we found a couple government schools and were actually allowed to pick the one we wanted. Its totally secure and I LOVE her teacher. She is about my age and seems like someone I would hang out with if given the chance. She works so good with Alana and seems to like the challenge of it. When I asked her how Alana was doing with her Spanish she said she speaks great and only some times has trouble understanding words. When she does have trouble the teacher says she gives her multiple different words or ideas or uses her hands to help her figure it out. She also said she rarely has to explain a word more than once. How great that the teacher takes this extra time with her and that she took the time to explain this to me. If you remember from a previous post when I asked her old teacher she bluntly told me that Alana spoke better than me and then turned back to her task at hand.

Christmas break started the week of the 17thish. I put the ish for a good reason, just read about her Christmas party and you will understand. She was suppose to go back to school on the 10th of January. This seemed like a long break and she was so ready the morning of the 10th. I´m pretty sure I mentioned in the Christmas party post also that when we arrived on the 10th the place was torn apart for remodeling. Well its three weeks later and this morning is her first day back. I have this sinking feeling were gonna walk all the way there and they wont have it for some reason or another. Issac had to use the truck this morning to bring the baby in for her immunizations (which will be another post) so we are on foot. Which is fine actually its a nice walk and with just the older two its good exercise and its not to cold for them.

So all in all the government school for Kinder can be a pain and let them miss three weeks of school but like I said its Kinder and mainly a play date every day. This teacher does actually send home homework and encourage the parents to do things with the kids outside of school and class work. Alana and I love to do activities and she has about three or four learning websites so we have that covered and I hope I can always manage to do this type of thing with her. Any of you that have kids here in Mexico and want those websites let me know. Her favorite one, I found out while I was in Dallas, is used by the schools there to give kids homework. This made me feel really good about the sites I found and choose for her to do.

We are so excited about her first day back. I'm also hoping this routine will help with the nightly bed wetting we still have. We are also trying to remember to wake her up and bring her to the bathroom before we go to bed. This usually helps but not always. Any suggestions on that issue are welcome although I'm afraid we have tried everything.

Mexican Birth cirtificate

2011-01-18T05:50:00.001-08:00

Oh boy here we go again with paper work. This is one big reason I'm done having more babies. Ok it really wasn't all that bad but here goes. In Mexico as many of you know you dont get to just fill out paperwork while in the hospital and they send you the birth certificate. Here you have to take your newborn to the Registro Civil to register them. We knew we had to have two witnesses and one of the papers from the hospital. Attempt one went something like this. First we crammed my family into my Jimmy, me driving, mom in front seat and papi in back with all three girls holding my 4 year old. Yes I said holding. We only have two seat belts in back seat so Alana has been with out one. Its driving me crazy and hopefully we will have the money soon to put one in for her. Sorry that was off subject.
Then we went to pick up Melissa (thank you so much, we couldn't have done this with out you). She then was the one crammed in the back seat with two car seats and Alana and Papi sat in the back of the Jimmy together. Needless to say we did it true Mexican style crammed in like a clown car. We find the Civil office and go on in. The lady took one look at our paper from the hospital and said it was missing a date. It had the babies birth date but that it was missing the date that it was filled out. I said, oh well it was only two days after she was born just put the date on there. No, she says that now along with the date we need it re-stamped by the hospital to prove they were the ones to put the date on it. We leave a little upset but really we know as always that soemthing was bound to happen. We brought Melissa to work and went to get a bite to eat. So much for having my mom as one of the witnesses it was her last week here.
Last week we got my boss with us in the Jimmy and Melissa followed us this time and we went to find a different office. (because we just filled in the missing date). After finding the office which was all tagged up with graffiti we went in and told the lady why we were there. Ok she said, let me see your paperwork to be sure you have everything. The second she started examining my FM2 I knew we were in trouble. Why you may wonder well with Joslin they didn't even ask for my immigration status. My FM2 is currently in process at the immigration office of being renewed. I did not bring the paper stating this because like I said before it never even came up. She noticed that the date was up in December and said we would have to wait until I get the new one back. This was not an option for us for a couple reasons. For one this was the second time I had pulled two people out of their daily activities to witness for me, and two the baby needs her immunizations and cannot get them with out a birth certificate. After some discussion with the jefe Issac said they can do it but will have to put a note on her birth certificate that I am here illegally. The man assured Issac over and over that this would never cause us problems nor cause us to have to pay a fee at any point. I sure hope he is right. So we got copies of everyone's passports and current visa status (because everyone except Issac where Americans)and a copy of the babies hospital paper. We all signed and almost an hour and half after getting there we were finally on our way. So for the rest of Lily´s life it will appear that I was illegal. I really hope this never comes back to haunt us somehow.
So in case you didn't catch it all you need is the report of birth from the hospital (totally filled out) the mom, dad, two wittiness and copies of everyone's ID´s and immigration status if not Mexicans. And you walk out with the birth certificate. You can always go back and request copies. Dont get copies right away because most of the time when you need them they have to be copies you received with int a certain time.

Ok I need to go now Alana is sitting in the floor next to me singing a song about how mommy wont talk to her. lol
Let me know if I left anything out.

Palabra de Vive

2011-01-07T09:38:00.001-08:00

I think I have mentioned how much I love our new church up here. Im again excited about Sunday mornings. They have recently been doing a great job updating their web site. For the Christmas service the kids did little songs. At first the had Alana in the back because she is so tall but very quickly the teacher pulled her to the front because she was doing so good. Im going to try to get the video on her but if not here is a link to the pics on the church website. Oh yes shes the pretty one in the blue jean dress. :) http://www.hay.com.mx/ipv/board.php?board=qqqgallery&command=body&no=86

Oh I hope this works she was so darn cute.
Anyway check out our church web site there are other cool things on there.

Last week I had the privilege of helping a mission of Doctors to provide Prolotherapy and fix varicose veins. I only got to go help three times in the week but it was a great experience.

labor and delivery in Mexico

2011-01-07T08:48:00.003-08:00

Some asked for more details on how things went down here so here it is. Some of you may not care to read it and that's OK but this way those who want to know can. I went through the private hospital again with this baby. I'm so thankful that God provided for us so that I could. For most of my pregnancy I was gearing up and trying to prepare myself for an epidural free labor and delivery. I wasn't to excited about this but was prepared to do it because well to be honest I didn't have much choice. Then God provided us with new jobs and a move so we decided we could afford the private doctor and hospital. So my last month of pregnancy went something like this.
We found what I feel like is the nicest and best OB in Guadalajara and visited him almost every week. He was so kind and well to be honest my age that we felt like we were visiting a friend who happened to want to ultrasound the baby every time he saw us. Seriously him and Issac would talk about X-box and other things during our visits. Two weeks before my due date he said he could tell that she was ready to come at any time and that if she did it would be ok because she was developed. He also said that if I did not go into labor by the following week visit we would talk about inducing. So as any 8 1/2 mo pregnant lady would do I began walking like crazy and looking up other natural ways to induce my labor. ;) By the next Wednesday when it was time for my visit I was of course still pregnant and having random contractions that were not staying around long (I had been having these for about 2 weeks at this point). My doctor said he would induce me on Sat if I didn't go into labor and until then to rest so that I would be well rested to labor over the weekend. So home I went to prepare for Thanksgiving the next day. I promised to rest except for the cooking that needed to be done. Thanksgiving went well and my contractions continued as they had been. Friday night some of Issacs family showed up (who were invited for Thanksgiving, mind you) and we let them know what was planned for Saturday morning. Saturday at 9am I left a house full of people to go see the doctor. He explained that he didn't believe in a strong induction of labor and would rather just kind of kick start the natural process. We very much agreed with him on this. At this point I was only dilated to 1cm with no thinning. So he gave me a half pill of pitocin by mouth and a half pill vaginally. This is an extremely small dose. The plan was for me to go home and go about my regular day and call in 4hours to check in. He sent me home with more pills to take in 4 hours if nothing was happening. Well I this little nudge is all my body needed. By ten o´clock not even an hour later I could tell the contractions were getting stronger and more regular. By eleven o´clock I was laying down in my bed to see if they were going to go away with rest. By eleven thirty I knew they were not going anywhere and Issac called up the doctor. We were sent out the door with lots of prayer and kisses from the family that was at the house. My doctors office was at the hospital and is where he wanted us to meet him. After talking to me and seeing me go through a couple contractions my doctor was ready to admit me. He called a wheel chair to meet us and off the pushed me to the main desk at the hospital. On the way there I met my anesthesiologist who was a very nice lady also. At the front desk I waited in my wheel chair and hospital gown while Issac talked to them about payment and they picked out a room for me. My doctor obviously knew what he was doing and refused the first room due to construction going on near by and we ended up getting one of the big nice rooms for no extra charge. ;) Have I mentioned how great our doctor was. Then I was wheeled into my room and they turned down my bed. I asked if I could stay out of the bed because the contractions were easier to handle while standing. This was no problem for them and my husband helped me through each one. This was the first time Issac got to be with me during this stage of labor and it was great. Except that he kept making me laugh during contractions and I still want to punch him for it. When the doctor came in to check me he was surprised to see I was dilated to 4 1/2 already and asked if I was ready for the epidural. I said I could wait a bit because I was tolerating the contractions ok at that point. Not even 15 min after he left the room I could tell they were getting stronger very quickly so we asked him to call the anesthesiologist. They then asked me if I would rather walk or have a wheel chair bring me into the delivery room. I wanted to walk because at that moment the thought of sitting down was not a good one. The nurses where all very good with me and stopped and held on to me when I would go into a contraction on the way. At this point Issac was asked to wait outside until they got the epidural placed. The doctor came in and between contractions got the epidural in. At this point my contractions where coming very fast and hard. For some reason the anesthesiologist was under the impression it was my first child and was just not listening to me when I said that it was time for the medication. I was screaming at her to give me the medication. Thankfully my OB was quick to come in and check me and when he noticed I was dilated past seven she quickly gave me the medication and once I calmed down she told me she didn't think I was going to that fast. Of course the medicine didn't kick in before it was time to push but I was feeling it ok when she was crowning. To be honest I felt more with her than I ever did and I would never ever ever want to feel more than I did with her. At one point the anesthesiologist told me to stop yelling during my contractions and to push. I said to her, "Gracias a dios puedo empuje ahora?" She said yes and by golly I got that kid out in like six pushes or so. You women who go all natural have a pain tolerance out of this world because mines pretty high and I would never volunteer to feel all that nature intended. Even though I was screaming at the anesthesiologist at one point she told me I did wonderful and my OB decided I wasn't really American. lol He kept saying you must be Mexican the way you dealt with all that. Lilian was born at 250 only five hours after the pitosin and 4 hours after true labor kicked in. My OB swears I need to have more babies because my body did so well with the labor, delivery, and recover. I keep telling him hes crazy and if its up to us we wont be doing any of that again. God willing Lily is our last. They kept me in the hospital that night and the next night. We headed home around noon the second day after she was born. Here is another picture just because I know how cute she is and want to be sure you all do to. ;)

moms last month here

2011-01-07T08:48:00.001-08:00

The pictures speak for themselves. We miss you Maw Maw.

The week before my mom left Alana told her she couldnt leave until after we take the tree down and then put it back up when Lily is bigger. ;)

Sorry I had to delete the pics off my blog, I have decided to keep my blog public no matter how many hateful comments I get. If I made my blog private it would defeat the purpose so instead I will just delete the pictures and refrain from using names in attempt to keep things safe for us.

New years

2011-01-07T08:47:00.003-08:00

This year for New Years my mom was here to watch the girls so Issac and I decided we needed a night out alone. We were all excited about it but didn't have a chance to find a place that would for sure be open that night. We know that here in Mexico most people celebrate at families homes but we figured since we were in the city this year we wouldn't have to much trouble finding a place that was open. We were way off on this one. Our truck was in the shop so we were going by taxi and we had to have the guy drive around for like 15 or 20 min before we finally found a little wings bar open. We had planned on a nice dinner because both of us were on Antibiotics and couldn't drink. It was still nice to get out and the wings were actually really good. We didn't stay long though because the reason I was on medication was due to an ear infection. The music wasn't as loud as some bars but it felt loud to my sick ears. We were home by 11pm and I'm pretty sure we were not up at midnight. ;) I looked at my post from last year and I filled out this little questioner thing and I think I will do it again.

I got this great idea from http://laurieishere.blogspot.com/ last year and I thank her for it. I love to reflect on the past and find out what I can learn from it and to look forward to the future and what I can hope for.

3-4 words that describe this past year... Acceptance, tolerance, and Blessed

If 2009 was a book, I'd title it... Accepting Gods Path, no matter where it leads.

I am really glad I tried... living in the City

Something that really surprised me.... How much my online friends have done for us. We are so blessed to know you all. Things I have to thank you all for is my job, learning opportunities for my girls, and my sanity.

The most courageous thing I did this year was. . . Driving around Guadalajara without Issac. Oh and having a baby that takes some guts. lol

I tried to hold on to.... My relationships with friends and family in the states.

I felt more hopeful about... Life- I know that cant be more vague but its true.

I felt less anxious about ... The Future

A relationship I feel extra grateful for this year.... My husband, he surprises me constantly with what a great partner in this life he is. This is the same from last year. But again I have to say my relationships with friends on line. They grow stronger every year and help me to grow as a person.

This year, I noticed God at work in .... Teaching me that he will always take care of me. And although he may keep me on my toes I will never want for my needs to be fulfilled.

In 2011,

Words I hope describe this upcoming year.....Challenging. I cant believe Im saying that but I look forward to the Challenge my work is bringing into my life.

Something new I really want to try... visiting other areas of Mexico which brings along trying new foods.

A relationship I want to pour more of my heart and time into . . . My relationship with Christ deserves more effort this year. This is from last year and I must leave it up. Christ always deserves more time. But also with being busier Issac and I have decided we need to be sure and pay a lot of attention to our relationship to keep it tight.

A way I want to reach out to others is . . . I want to be more of a support to many of you who are in tough situations. I have received so many blessings and I hope to give them back in return.

I'm going to need God''s courage to ...Trust him to provide daily for my family no matter what the physical world looks like.

This year I hope I let go of ...fear and anxiety, Im sad to say this is from last year and I have to keep it up again.

This year I hope I can hold on to ...The passion and love between me and Issac, and one on one time with each of my girls.

One dream I have for 2010 is . . .Ok I have to show you what I put up last year.
(To be working and to be in a town we want to buy a house for our family to grow in.)
Thank you God for helping us to accomplish this.
I think my dream for this year is to adjust appropriately and the way God wants us to into our new living situation. Also I would love to see Issac get some schooling under his belt and maybe even get me started on some more also.

Alanas school party

2011-01-07T08:47:00.001-08:00

As seems to be the norm these days I'm a little behind. Gees can you imagine with the new baby new job and new city. :) I am getting a little better at keeping things up around the house and so the blog upkeep comes next. Yes sorry folks house come first. lol
Here is a little post on my 4 year daughters school Christmas party. In this post you will see the joys and pains of the government school system here. Thankfully I have read enough of Leslies issues with the school that I kind of expect this type of thing. We were told almost a month in advance that her party would be held December 20th and that her class was to dress like angels and we would be pitching money in for one of the moms to prepare tocos durados and to buy tambourines for their part in the pastorela (christmas play). A week before we were told that the party would be changed to the 17th. This was no problem and my mom was here to help me get Alanas costume ready. I also made little yarn angels for all the kids in their class. (My mom keeps telling me to read a book called, Im not supper woman, I haven't yet because I'm still trying to be, lol)
So we show up on that Friday with Alana all dressed up and us ready to party. Of course nothing was ready to start on time and once it did start I needed to go feed the baby. I went into Alanas class room and let Joslin play while I feed Lily. Soon the maintenance women and another women came tearing through the class room looking for something. I asked them what they were looking for and they looked at me as if I had just appeared there. They asked if I had had my baby. Well yes I'm feeding her right now I said. Then they got all excited and asked if when she was done eating if they could use her as baby Jesus. Well of course my baby can star in the play, as long as no kids would be touching her or picking her up. Mind you she was only a few weeks old at this point. So Alana got to be an angle and Joslins so cute the teacher handed her a tambourine to play with Alanas group and Lily got to be Jesus. Oh yes I'm a proud mommy. lol
So then when the play was over everyone was packing up and leaving. I asked what about the food and the piñata? Well Monday is suppose to be the last official day so they decided to spread out the party and the rest would be on Monday. Ok no problem we will be there of course. We showed up on Monday and some of the parents were putting on another play about the diablo (the devil) trying to corrupt people. Then while we were eating I was told that they found out that Tuesday was the official last day and that they were saving the piñata for Tuesday. Up until now this American mommy was being tolerant but this I can not deal with. Alana already had her tambourine, got to eat the food and was given her gift that we paid for so no, I'm not coming back a third day for a piñata. Instead we made our own at home. Im going to post pics here of her party and of our piñata.

Sorry I had to delete the pics off my blog, I have decided to keep my blog public no matter how many hateful comments I get. If I made my blog private it would defeat the purpose so instead I will just delete the pictures and refrain from using names in attempt to keep things safe for us.

FM2 Renewal 2010

2010-12-17T12:11:00.000-08:00

After having my blog come up first when I googled FM2 renewal IM feeling a little more pressure to get this post done well. The last renewal post I read didnt have a lot of the formalities about the process that I normally put in. So I plan to give you the details first of what you need then Ill go into my personal story of how it went for me.

For the Renewal you go online to
http://www.inm.gob.mx/index.php/page/Solicitud_de_Estancia
and fill out the form, be sure to save it and copy it. You need to be able to read in Spanish to get this done. If you can not be sure to have someone help you.
We filled out two letters of intent that were given to us by the Immigration office
They also gave us a form to fill out with instructions on getting another photo for the new ID. They will be giving a card ID now instead of a booklet.
Full copy of passport
Copy of info pages from my FM2 book
Pictures for the ID
Issacs ID (this is because my FM2 is familial under him)
We had to pay 2,800p at a Banamex and bring a copy of the receipt. (You have to get the form for the payment from the Immigration office)
we also had to have check stubs or a letter from Issacs Employer, we got the letter. Again this is because my FM2 is familial.

We also had to do an address change. We needed much less this time around.
We had to fill out and print off a form from the same website I posted above.
Full coyp of passport
proof of address
and a letter of intent, they actually gave Issac an example so he was sure to put everything on there.

It took us three days to be sure we had all the documents correct due to little errors and details. By the time we got to go to the office to turn everything in I had to go alone. Due to the fact that Im nursing the baby and havnt started bottles yet I had to bring her with me. Wile I waited for my number to be called I finished little angels for Alanas class. When I got to the desk and handed over my form and my passport copy the lady asked me what year I was born. "1980" I say. Your form is wrong she says. My husband put his year of birth instead of mine. The lady told me there was a computer across the hall that I could fix the form and then come back to her. She said I didnt have to wait with another number which was a relief. I did have to wait for one guy to get done with his document and then I was on. I had to change both of my forms and the first went almost without a hich. It was a touch screen and there are a lot of pull down menus so I kept hitting the wrong things because I dont have nails. By the time I got to the second I had people behind me and the baby was waking up and crying wanting to be fed. Needless to say I rushed through it. I then wrote down my numbers and went back to the lady at the counter who printed off my forms. At this point Im feeding the baby so she took my whole stack of papers and put them in order instead of asking for one at at time like the normally do. I was thankfull for this. She stamped everything and had me sign a copy of the print off that tells you how to check the status online. I grabbed my papers and finished feeding the baby as I walked out to the car. After I got home and handed my husband the papers he says, "Oh honey." with a bit of a sad sigh. Im like, "What!!!!"
I had put on the address change that I was from Estonia, which is right below Estados Unidos on the drop down list. I of course had to be calmed down by him and he said he would go in the next day to ask about what we needed to do.
They acted like it was no big deal because it was just the address change. They said they would just deny it and in Jan when they reopen we will have to redo it. This is not a big problem because it was late already and we were already going to have to pay the fine.

Thats it for now until I go top pick it up. I hope this information ends up being useful.

The unmarked path is exciting and scary

2010-12-10T06:14:00.000-08:00

First off I want to say that yesterday I was googling FM2 renewal because its that time of the year again and guess whose web site came up top of the list. Oh yeah that would be me, Borders Aside was the first page to come up. I laughed because here I am looking for any updated info and my page came up. Anyway that process is for another post when its all said and done I just wanted to brag about finding myself on google like that. lol

So about that unmarked path. Well when we got this job offer it seemed to good to be true and so we committed it to a lot of prayer and asked others to do the same for us. Issac and I both felt that moving and taking this job were the right thing to do. And we still do. But let me tell you it hasn't been as clean and clear as we had expected. Like most things in life I see this as Gods way of helping me to see where my faith lies. There have been many changes in just the two months since we stared. We are doing more than teaching which is all we expected at first. We are both doing a lot of soliciting, and are both writing a curriculum for different classes. I actually dont mind this Iv always wanted to try my hand at new things. I worked in the healthcare field at 15 1/2 and aside from a pizza job on the side for 6months its all Iv ever done. The other change is that sometimes... well... more than once we have have not gotten paid on time. And we know that the person who is suppose to be financing this program is more than a month late on paying. This is pretty stressful if you can imagine especially with the new move and new baby. On top of that our transmission is going out on our truck and we cant drive more than 40mph most of the time. We need a new vehicle anyway because we need more room and more seatbelts. Anyway I wont go on an on about that I think what Iv said can show you that this can be quite a stresser for us.
Im writing this because I want you all to be witness to the goodness and personal care of God. Christ is not only my Saviour he is my friend and doesnt like to see me stress. Especially when he has gotten me through so much in the past. Im sure it breaks his heart. I tried as much as I could not to stress but it happened anyway. My faith filled and always calm husband prayed over me and helped me through that day. He reminded me of all the tough times that God has pulled us out of. And his peace helped to sooth me. I cant be more thankful for what God has given me in my husband. So the Sunday after Lily was born and during the peak of all these (and a few more) issues we went to church. Yes she was only a week old but I was feeling good enough so we went. We tithed out of our past check even though we had still not received the new check (over a week late), because we had both prayed about it and we knew God would see us through. But let me tell you I didn't do it without a little fear in my heart. The sermon was perfect, he was talking about how we should respond to things that we do not understand. He spoke of Mary the mother of Jesus, and how imperfect she was. He had to go into this of course because living in Mexico even if you are not Catholic you may have been raised putting Mary into a higher place than she should be. Anyway I cant even imagine what her life must have been like raising him and knowing all that she knew. Anyway there is a verse that says that "she put all these things away in her heart." So even a women who had been spoken to by an angel and raised the Christ child didn't understand why God had her where she was. And when she didn't understand something she just tucked it away knowing that some day God would shine his light of understanding on it. so after church I told Issac that I am going to work on filling up my box and tucking it away to give to the Lord. God always knows the words we need to hear and gives them to us. Not always through a sermon, sometimes through the rustling of the trees or the words of a child, husband or friend. Later in the week here is a devotional I read (thanks Rebbecca Im reading Streams in the Desert and its perfect timing for it although you gave it to me like a year ago)
I know, O Lord, that a man's life is not his own; it is not for man to direct his steps. (Jeremiah 10:23)
Lead me in a straight path. (Psalm 27:11)
Many people want to direct God instead of surrendering themselves to be directed by Him. They want to show Him the way instead of submissively following where He leads. Madame Guyon.

I did skip a couple post that I still want to write and hopefully I ll have time for them this weekend but this one seemed more important.

Much love.

advent calander, tree decorations, messy house.

2010-12-04T17:48:00.004-08:00

Well I'm glad that sometimes when I think of something I want to post about I save a title and leave it at that if I dont have time to make the whole post at the time. I love to share about our advent activities. Today I will do it with pictures, here goes. Oh in case you were not around last year we do advent a bit different, I make it my own. We have a calendar that I made last year with pockets for each day. On a piece of paper I write a bible verse and an activity usually pertaining to the story we read. The girls also get a piece of candy with each activity, this usually keeps them quiet long enough to hear the story. We start with creation and move through the bible chronologically for the most part up to the birth of Jesus which we talk about on Christmas eve.

Sorry I had to delete the pics off my blog, I have decided to keep my blog public no matter how many hateful comments I get. If I made my blog private it would defeat the purpose so instead I will just delete the pictures and refrain from using names in attempt to keep things safe for us.

Getting moms med care

2010-12-04T17:48:00.003-08:00

When my mom said she wanted to come but was worried about her medications I began asking around about it. I had many people who live here tell me that it would be no problem. I even went as far as going into a pharm simi to ask a doctor if she would write the scripts if we needed them. Everyone told me it would be no problem and that it would not be difficult to find her medications. Let me tell you they were all so very wrong. Thankfully my mom told us a good two weeks before she was running out of anything and we got started right away. First we had to look up the names of all her medications in Spanish, this turned out to be the easiest part of the process. It was all very confusing and I didn't understand why some pharmacies had what we need and others didn't. In the long run when we asked my OB about the issues we had, he explained that in Mexico the pharmacies are owned by the drug companies. So if a drug you want is from a competitor drug producer that pharmacy will not carry it. Considering my mom was on more than one medication that still had no generic this was a big problem. Also as we were visiting all these different places we found out that three of her medications had to have a written prescription. One that was for anxiety and one that was for sleep we were told by one doctor had to be written by a psych doctor and only a psych doctor. Thankfully this turned out to not be the case. Because I was in my last few weeks of pregnancy and seeing my OB often we brought this whole issue to his attention and he agreed to write the scripts we needed. So we showed him her pill bottles and the names of the drugs in Spanish and he wrote them out. This happened the day he gave me the small dose of pitosin to induce my labor ( he was expecting it to take a while to work). Well I went into labor less than 4 hours later so Issac didn't go to fill moms scripts till the next evening. When he did he found out that all the medications had to be written on their own personal script and not all together the way our doctor wrote them. So my OB was kind enough to rewrite them. And again the next day Issac went to get them filled. This is when they informed us that her pain medication was not to be found here in Mexico. So three days after the baby was born and my first day home Issac brought my mom to a doctor to have them write her something that would help her with her arthritis pain. The doctor at pharm simi was kind enough to write this one and we were able to get it filled and it did end up easing her pain. She ended up needing another script written for her sleeping meds because they didn't give us enough for her entire stay the firs time. But again I was going back for my one week OB appointment and our doctor was kind enough to write it again. In the end we got it all figured out and for sure next time it will be easier but gees what a pain in the butt it was. We spent at least three night going from pharm to pharm, and in the state I was in just before and after the baby it was frustrating to say the least. Really I just wanted to write this post in case any of you have family that will be visiting for a long time you will know what to expect better than I did. It is a better idea for them to explain to their doctor and insurance that they will be on a prolonged stay in Mexico and need extra fill on their meds. If the insurance or doctor will not do this be sure to visit your pharmacies and doctors and be very very clear with them what medications you will be needing and if they will have them. Well that is that... Im trying to get my blogs up to date today so I can spend some time reading others this weekend. :)

Having the baby

2010-12-04T17:48:00.001-08:00

Lilian Andrea was born Saturday November 27th, she weighed 3kilos and was 51cm long. I had gone in that morning around 9am and was given a very small dose of patosin and sent home. By noon I was admitted to the hospital and she was born at 245. She came fast and I was so glad and ready for her. To be honest my whole labor and delivery process was so much closer to what I wanted with the other two. Issac was allowed by my side the whole time and every one attended to what I asked for as far as when I was ready for different things. Heres some pics.

My moms first couple weeks

2010-11-19T06:06:00.000-08:00

Once again I started this a few weeks ago. So some of it may be a little out dated. Things like that Im no longer pregnant and we have a new member of our family around. Ill post about that on a different blog hopefully tonight. ;)
My mom flew in on the tenth of November. She made it through all the checks well but did get the red light. She said she was ok with it because they had reassured her that her family was on the other side of the next set of doors. As soon as she got through my girls were in her lap in the wheelchair and the attendant pushed them all out to the truck. My mom was only here two days one of which Issac and I both worked before more family showed up. Issacs sister came on that Friday with her husband, son and dog, and his mom came in on Sat. They were all here for about 3 days and although it was fun I was way stressed. Everyone and more are coming back for Thanksgiving but I think Ill do better this time because my mom has had some time to get use to the place. Really his family are the best to have around they cook, buy food, clean and everything its just the constant commotion that got to me.
So far all we have gotten to do is go to an art sale and listen to an orchestra band in the park. My mom loved it and Ill post some pics, shes the gringa redhead in the middle and Issacs mom is sitting next to her. My mom had a great time and regardless of the language barrier she actually made some friends. We will be going back this Sunday because we ordered a painting she wanted to have made for the girls.
We also went to a parade which was lot of fun for all of us.
A few of the things my mom has noticed that I forget about is how everything is built so close to each other. She is now telling me how I need smoke detectors in the house and I'm trying to explain how everything is concrete and fires dont spread like in the states. To be honest she hasn't seen to much except wal-mart because we still needed so much for the house and although we were dealing with it my mom wasn't willing to. Which is great because it was those things that makes life so much easier.
Even no weeks later I haven't been able to get her out much because I had the baby last weekend.
For work now I'm staying home and writing a curriculum for a medical English class. I'm glad I have something I can work on from home and still get paid during my maternity leave.

Sorry I had to delete the pics off my blog, I have decided to keep my blog public no matter how many hateful comments I get. If I made my blog private it would defeat the purpose so instead I will just delete the pictures and refrain from using names in attempt to keep things safe for us.

Finding our OB and clinic

2010-11-01T21:39:00.001-07:00

Gosh I just saw this under my unfinished posts and I suppose I should go ahead and write it.
It was a little hard finding the right place to go, more so because of all the options than anything. Everyone at each hospital and each doctor we visited were friendly and helpful. Our choice came down to convenience and cost. Luckily the closest hospital and doctor happened to be the best priced. My doctor is great, and takes his time on our appointments. He is responsive when we have to call him and has given us an alternate doctor to call in case he is ever unable to be reached. He is a young guy which at first I wasn't to sure about. I say young meaning hes prob about my age, 30, but that's young for an OB. But its actually great because he is so excited about it all. During one of my ultrasounds the baby had the hiccups and he just sat there and laughed and watched the babies stomach for awhile. After being at the IMMS for my last one this was a breath of fresh air. The hospital stay and medications will cost close to 8,000p and the doctors are about 10,000 so with the last few doctor visits and the exchange rate it will cost us about 2,000usd. Mexico is totally wearing off on me and we haven't even enrolled and started our payments... I'm 37weeks now. So this week we plan to go by the hospital and be sure they have my name in the system and start a payment. Here in Mexico you have to pay everything before you get discharged so we also have to start pulling the money out of my account so its ready when the time comes. I'm so ready to have this baby but to be honest we haven't even taken my maternity pics yet. We plan to get a few done today and then some more next Monday. With both my others I had them done by the time I was 8mo along.Anyway I'm healthy and my boss isn't letting me do any work outside of home. This is working well for us. This post sat for so long I feel like I'm leaving a lot of info out so as always please ask if you have any questions.

finding a place to worhsip

2010-11-01T21:03:00.001-07:00

Our first Sunday in town we decided to join some friends of ours at their church. We had actually stopped by once when we were in town looking for a place to live so we knew where it was. El Camino was a great church and had a little class for Alana. We enjoyed the worship but didn't feel a pull from the spirit to make it our home. Also it was about 25 min to get home after ward. This is a long time when you have two tired and hungry kids. We hope to get to visit down there from time to time if they have an event or something but as far as every Sunday we decided pretty quickly that wasn't the place for us.
Thanks to some good friends who live in Tototlan (who we met while living in Tepa) we were put in contact with some missionaries who live here in Guad. Due to them having a hectic schedule at the time we haven't been able to meet in person but I know the day will come soon enough. They were able to suggest a church to us that is not even five min from our house. Well we love it so far. To be honest its a little more charismatic than any other place Iv called home but is something I can get use to. They are not flashy or showy about it but from time to time you might see someone fall out during prayer. There is so much we love about this church and I'm going to tell you now. ;)
1 They have a wonderful class for Alana, she actually comes out telling me what they told her about Jesus. She gets to go to a class when we do our class (this was an accident actually, we thought the service started at 10 and actually it was Sunday school, we liked it so much we plan to go at that time every week). During the class Issac and I sit in the nursery with Joslin which is right behind the sanctuary with a big glass window so you can see out there. They also have a huge screen TV in the nursery so you can hear and see the class. This is nice because Issac and I can kind of chat about what the guy is talking about when I dont understand well.
2. We pick Alana up for praise and worship and everyone joins in. There are so many youth at this church and I get teary eyed every time I look at the whole group of them praising God. I love for Alana (and Jos soon enough) to see us singing to Jesus and showing him how much we love him. They do up beat and slow music and let it all be led by the spirit. For example this last Sunday we ended up not even having much of a sermon because the praise session cut way into the sermon time.
3 Ok here is a great great great part to. During the sermon they have these little head phones they give me where someone is translating the whole sermon live. So last week I got to hear my first full sermon in English in over a year. Yeah I know this will cut back on my Spanish practice a bit but seriously people that's not why I'm there. ;) During the Sermon one of us (Issac or I) have to sit with Jos back in the nursery but my headphones work back there so we have decided to just take turns every other Sunday.
4 speaking of the nursery.... Its clean!!!! and safe!!!! And in Alanas class they were sure both Sundays to ask our names and who would be picking her up. They dont let any kids leave the room with out having made eye contact with the parents first.
5 people are so friendly and ready to chat. There is a little dinning area where I give the girls a snack between class and sermon and every week we have been able to meet someone.

I think there is more but I cant think of it right now. The best part is that to be honest we had decided we could go with out all these wonderful things in our church life but God has given them to us anyway. We feel so blessed. We are pretty sure at this point that this will be our church home but for now we are going to plan to go a few more Sundays and continue checking it out.

The New Job (first few weeks)

2010-10-23T10:55:00.001-07:00

Really at this point its the first month. The first couple weeks were pretty laid back and involved the trip to Zecatecus that I wrote about before. After that its been kinda crazy but we are making it. We are trying to recruit our students and at this point dont have any. I know things always come through at the last min around here and I am keeping the faith that it will. To be honest I dont believe God would have put this opportunity in front of us if it wasn't going to work out. In the way of work we have been spending our days driving all over Guadalajara promoting our program to nurses at hospitals, schools, and scrub shops. At the small IMMS that only have a few nurses we are giving invites to bring them in for a meet and great and others who are willing we offer a presentation to be done at their hospital. So if any of you know of any nurses who would like to have classes with an actual instructor for passing their TOEFL (English test), and NCLEX (nursing boards test) send them my way. Our program also includes helping them to get a visa and a job in one of the countries that our company has an office in. Sorry I'm so in promotion mode I could go on all day. It really is such a great deal for these nurses. Seriously if anyone does have more questions about it please feel free to ask.

Our boss is great and although extremely busy with a lot on his plate he is obviously strongly committed to this project. Its nice because he is easy to talk to and likes to have us all hang out after work. He is good at keeping work at work and hanging out as hanging out. A couple weeks ago our whole family got to go with him to his club and let the girls swim and have dinner. We had a lot of fun and its good to get to know the people we work with a little better.

Last week I was sent to Dallas which is where the base office is. I realized while there that there isn't much I miss from the states any more. I was surprised by how groomed everything is, I think I had forgotten what a difference mowing and trimming a long the highways makes. ;) Aside from that it was only the first day that people thought I was strange because I had to think for a while before I spoke. I kept trying to think of what I wanted to say in spanish, then have a little you dont need to do that conversation in my head, then remember to actually talk to the person I was looking at. I was able to meet my supervisor who created the curriculum I will be using to teach my class. We were able to sit and really hash out how the classes should go and basically planned out my first couple weeks of class. I was also able to meet all the people at the base office that I have been communicating with via the web and that was nice. I of course had to make a trip to Target and the Dollar tree while there but for the most part of the trip it was all work. Oh but I got some good ice cream, got to eat a Sonic, and got to eat at this awesome Indian/fusion restaurant that is owned by my supervisor and her husband. Food is always important on a visit to the states no matter how short.

As for our immediate future Issac will be doing a lot of work from home the next couple weeks and I will be continuing our promotions with other people at the school. Its been tough keeping or getting the girls on a good schedule and keeping my house in order. But really my husband is so wonderful and and is doing his share. We just haven't quite fell into our niches yet. And really we cant, there is so much that I cant do around here right now. It seems like we will be getting a big change every couple weeks now for the next few months. For example my mom shows up next week and this will help us a lot. We are so excited to see her its been a year for me and Issac hasn't seen her other than the web cam since he moved here four years ago. Then a couple weeks after that the baby is due. Then comes the holidays and in January we will actually be teaching and not just doing the promotions. Then my mom will be leaving two weeks into January. I sure hope Issac and I ready to do three kids and both working by that time. lol We will be I know but its and interesting thought.

The Move

2010-10-17T07:10:00.000-07:00

Ok its taking me forever to get this out. Here is your warning that I am not going to read over this before I post it. If something doesn't make since just ask. lol
Its over but was not even close to being smooth. Seriously I know that patience is a vurtue that I need a lot of work with. Since moving to Mexico I have done much better with this, but I am still challenged to my brink sometimes. Let me tell you if what happened to us after me posting my last post had happened two years ago I would have been physically ill with stress. And although I wanted to reach out and rip a few heads off I actually tolerated it pretty well. Its not always about how you feel or what you want to do but what you actually do. ;) This is a change that can only be attributed to the work God has done in my life. Basically I just kept reminding myself of how he has never... ever... ever let me down or left me in the streets. And that kept me as cool as I could be.
The evening that I wrote my last post we got a call from our lovely reltor friend to say that the papers we had were not enough. Right away we told her to forget it all and we would look for another place. We told her we would need what we had given her so we could use it somewhere else. She told us to call next time we were in Guad and she would meet us to give us the papers back. At this point we were waiting on the call from the truck guys who were to help us move. We just figured we would let them know it fell through and that we would get back to them when we needed them. We also had a good friend and a cousin of ours "on hold" as far as helping us with the move. Around 7pm the relater called back and said as long as they could get a copy of my FM2 papers everything would be ok. We were a little skeptical but told her we would go with it. The truck guys called us at 8pm and agreed that 10am the next day was best for them anyway. I then called our friend who was on stand by and he also agreed. So as late as 9pm the night before we realized we were really moving the next day. Issac and I spent the next few hours packing last min items and tapeing up all the boxes. (we had left most of them open in case)
The movers were actually there early and had almost everything loaded before any of our other help showed up. On the lunch break one of the guys said, " its really rare we show up and people have everything packed up and ready to go." Then the other guy looked at him and said,"Actually, it hasn't ever happened before today." Issac and I found this amusing.
Thankfully I then went with our friend in his truck and had the movers follow me to the house. We actually only had to turn around one time and it was within the neighborhood that we were moving to. We arrived with all our stuff at the house around 2pm. This is also when Issac arrived to meet with the reltor to get the keys and sign the contract. She called him when he was about 15min away and said the contract wouldnt be ready until 5pm. He explained to here that we had hired people waiting at the house and could we have the keys to let them put our stuff in the house. The answere was no and that we couldnt have keys until the contract was signed. To say the least Issac was livid, they also informed him that he needed to get another copy of the fiodors ID. So Issac then had to turn around and head to a different part of Guad to get that copy made and proceded to the notaries to see if he could convince them to bring the keys. They were stuborn about the keys but gave us the ok to have our truck unloaded into the parking area of the house. Our movers put my entire house in the front yard basically of this this house and long story shorter, lol, we sat outside until 630pm when they land lady showed up with the keys. By this point I had meet a lot of the neighboors and found out there is a guy that kind of works the area and has for many years. He along with my friend who had stuck with us through all this ended helping move all our stuff inside. We simply set up the beds and crashed that night. We then had the whole weekend to get things together at the house and my first day of work was that Tuesday.
So thank God we are done dealing with the reltor and only have to deal with the land lady who is actually a very punctual and nice lady. The only issue we had witht he house was that the water wasnt working right but it has an underground resivour and a pump that we used until we figured out how to get the water service connected. Now we have our net and water and are happy campers. Im so thankfull for everyones prayers and well wishes. Somehow God was able to give me that peace that passes understanding during all this. A lot of it was because he provided me with fellowship during the wait. Our friend who helped us is a fellow Christian and it was good to have him around. Ill post about the job in a different post and pictures are to come later maybe not till next week of the house.

zacatecus

2010-10-06T07:05:00.000-07:00

So this is like 3 weeks old but my first work assignment was to go with my boss to Zacatecus to a conference and present our program. It went pretty well and instead of writing about it I thought Id just post some pics. Zacatecus by the way is so pretty, you feel like your in a spanish town. Prob the best part of the trip was to get to know my boss better we drove there and back and got a lot of chat time in. He and his wife are Jesus loving, praying Christians. This helps so much to have a boss who is on your wave length with the basics. Its actually a first for me and I'm loving it. So here are the pics enjoy.

Last Seguro appointment and finding a new doctor

2010-10-06T06:52:00.003-07:00

So I'm not sad to say we had our last appointment in the Seguro. Honestly the treatment wasn't bad and it was all up to date but the thought of having the baby without Issac or the epidural was scary. Also as to be expected with something that is free most processes are more of a pain in the butt. For my last dr. appointment there we ended up having to wait almost 2 hours and only the thought that this was the last time got us through it. It was a new doctor but after we explained everything she simply gave us our paper work and wished us luck. We also found out that Issac can still have his surgery done through them if we wanted so we plan for him to go back to Tepa one weekend to get it done. This way it is free and because we already have all the paperwork done through them we figure we might as well.
It didn't take us to long to find a good place to go here in the city. To be honest the first place we checked into was only 2min from our house and we thought it was to expensive. But after checking into a few other places we found that it was actually one of our cheaper options. So we already have our new doctor and have had our first appointment with him. He is young and its kind of nice because he still seams fascinated with the whole pregnancy thing. For example during the ultrasound the baby had the hiccups and he just sat and watched the stomach and laughed for awhile. Anyway he was very thorough and did a great job with our first appointment. He did approve me to fly on Monday to Dallas (Ill explain in a different post, its for work) but said that had we not had it all set up already he prob would have suggested I dont go. He only agreed because I'm doing well with everything and there doesn't seem to be any issues. Also with the statement that it should be the last time I leave town until after the birth. This we agreed to and we set up a date for our next appointment in two weeks. To give you all an idea of the cost here, for the rest of my dr. appointments (4or 5) and the hospital stay and all the meds and doctors during my stay will run close to 2,000usd. I feel like Iv left a lot out so for any of you that may be looking into needing health care down here if you have questions please ask. One thing I know I still have to look into that some of you may be able to answer for me is for my mom. She is coming down in November and is on several medications. I'm wondering if her pill bottles show that she can get refills will the pharmacies here refill them or will we have to get her a dr appointment and a new script. She will be here for almost 3 months and I dont think will be able to bring a full supply of all of them.

The process

2010-10-06T06:10:00.000-07:00

First I have to start this off with something that has nothing to do with the post itself. I just find being a mommy so fun so I wanted to share that my 18mo old has found that she can stash things in her diaper, so changes have become so interesting. And the 4year old GIRL... MY PRINCESS... has some odd fascination with spitting. This is not something I thought I would ever have to deal with with Alana. I have even told her its gross, and that a princess would never spit and its not helping. The good thing is that Issac is no longer working 12 hour days 6 days a week so he is around all the time to help....AND HE DOES HELP. Hes such an awesome papi and really pulls his weight around here.

So in my last post I told you about the amazing jobs we got in Guadalajara. The next step was to find a house to live in up there. Our first trip up there we stayed at some friends house with the idea that this would help us get an early start each day in looking for a place. The good thing was they had a house phone and we were able to use that. We seriously put more min on our phones in three days than we normally do in a month and a half. The only bad thing was that these guys live (with traffic) almost an hour from where we were looking. We had got in contact with a realtor... well sort of. Here is how that exchange went. We e-mailed her on Thur saying we were interested in looking at houses the first of the next week and when would she be available. She wrote back that she would get a list together for us by then. Come Sat we hadn't heard back about an appointment so we called her. She told us to call her when we got to Guad on Monday and she would meet us. We called her when we got there on Monday morning and she said she had things to do all day and could meet with us that evening. We called her that evening and she said she had just rented all but one of the places she had to show us and it couldn't be seen till the next day. The good thing was we actually had a few things to do with our new boss that day and we had a place to go back to in town (sort of). We also managed to get some other appointments set up to view places the next day so it was semi productive. The next day we headed out looking for more numbers and viewing the places we had already set up. The realtor was finally ready for us to view the house around 2 that afternoon. We loved this house and it was the one we are getting but we spent another evening and next day looking at our other options. Its about 30min from work and we were not sure we wanted to be that far. Believe it or not my girls were so good during all this. We had toys and lots of food stocked in the truck and each day let them spend an hour or so playing at burger king. This is a big deal to my little country kids who only see burger king every so often when we visited the city.
Although the realtor was so frustrating to deal with this was only the beginning. Because we have never lived in Guad we had to get a fiador, or a cosigner who has property and a deed to prove it in the city. At the last min Issac found a friend who would do it for us but he was as difficult to get anything set up with as the realtor was and we actually never ended up meeting up with the guy in person and just went and got the papers from his parents at their house. This came during our second trip the first being a whole wasted day trip to Guad. The only reason that was a big deal is because we are running very low on funds. Issac quite a week and a half ago so we could get all this running done and I dont get paid till the end of this week. Considering we were living check to check this is cutting us to the grind. Thankfully my sister loves us very much and knows we are very close to not being broke so she has loaned us some money. I then decided it would be a good idea to throw 3-500p down the drain when I scraped up against a parked car (thank God it was in Tepa) and broke out their tail light. I was so upset and mad at myself I have never done something like that and am normally a great driver. My sister says I can blame it on being prego so I will. ;)Like I said I'm glad it happened here because we know a guy who we trust will fix it and only what we messed up and not over charge us. Also he is taking his time, I hate that for the other guy (they were actually really nice people) but for us its better to not have to pay it until I start getting paid from the new job.
So now we have turned in our papers, and the contract should be getting written up today for the new rental. (Ill explain the house better when I can post pics and stuff) Our hope is that tomorrow at 10am we will be loading up our truck and moving. I think I may have to work some on Friday but still not sure on that either. Ill post more about the job on a different post. Today we are waiting on the guy we found who has a truck to verify if he will be able to help us tomorrow and for the landlord to call and tell us for sure the contract will be ready to be signed and the keys handed over tomorrow. I guess I'm lucky they are letting us know today and not tomorrow. So here we go moving again, dont read my old posts because I'm pretty sure I swore we were not going to move again for 2 years after we found our current house. That was 4months ago, seriously God does like to keep us on our toes.
So far I have been able to focus on the fact that I know God is in all this and try to stay calm and have faith. Although I have to say I have had a few random outburst (in private of course) and the crying fit when I hit the car but all in all I'm doing much better with all this than I would have been 2 years ago. I just have to remember that this is a part of my refining process and hopefully when we get to the other side I can shine even brighter for the Lord.

We are so excited about what the future holds for us as a family and excited to be closer to some of our friends. Keep us in mind this week that things go as smoothly as possible being that we are in Mexico. lol
Thanks everyone for your great comments and although, I'm not on the computer as much right now with all this moving craziness, believe me I will be blogging again regularly soon. I have so many different things I want to write about and am making notes so I dont forget. But for now we are totally consumed with this move.

The Big News

2010-09-21T13:36:00.000-07:00

No, we haven't gotten our clarification ultrasound yet so this is not to tell you the sex of our baby. But because of what I'm getting ready to tell you we can now go get the ultrasound. God is so amazing and works in ways that we would never dream up or imagine (and I have a huge imagination).
Ok so do I have your attention yet.... are you curious? lol

Well here is how the story goes...

A little over a week ago I received an e-mail from a friend (who I meet through blogging http://wagamamawonderings.blogspot.com/). It was nice and simple and had a link to a job req on creigs list. She simply stated she thought of me when she saw it (we are convinced now that God put my name in her mind at that moment). Out of curiosity I clicked on the site. It was a job posting for a nurse to work in Guadalajara teaching nurses how to pass the nursing exam that is required in the US. That night I told my husband about it and we decided although we were not exactly looking for a job that since it was sent to us maybe we should check into it, in case it was from God.
Last week I sent in my resume and they quickly responded with an application for me to fill out. I did this, still not thinking much of this because as you all know I have been down this road before and it didn't turn out well. But I got another quick response, they wanted to meet me. It just so happened that the president of the co would be in Guadalajara the following weekend and wanted to meet me. He also would like to do a casual phone interview and see a picture of me before we meet in person. So I sent them my new majic jack phone number (thanks again Rebecca) and a cropped head shot of me. I talked to Issac about all of it and we decided we could head up to Guad on Sat after Issac got off work to meet them if I felt the phone conversation went well. We were a little unsure because just to make this trip we were literally going to use every last penny in our savings to get there. Needless to say the phone conversation went great and this guy was very friendly and open to options. He mentioned at the time that he was also looking to have an English teacher and if I or my husband wanted it that would be more money for us. This sounded great except that being in a new city we would want one of us at home and we planned on mentioning this at our meeting. Thankfully we were able to get Issacs aunt and grandma to come over and sit with the girls that after noon and evening so we were comfortable with where they were and we didn't have to tug them a long with us.

The meeting went better than either of us could have ever dreamed. And thankfully we were better than what they thought they could have found also. My husbands English is close to perfect and to be honest he knows the ends and outs of grammar better than I do. OK I'm sure you believe that you all read my blog. lol Not only am I nurse but I have a lot of experience educating other nurses and my Spanish is good enough to help me convey what I need to to these nurses in both English and Spanish. So there you have it we were both hired and told so that night before we even left. I will be completing all the paper work by mid next week and my start date is the 1st of October. The classes do not start until Jan 1st but the next few months will part time work recruiting nurses who want to enroll in the school. We will be traveling to conventions, hospitals, and schools to get our name out there and get our student enrollment up. Im so excited about all these opportunities. I get to go to Zacatecas with them for my first assignment the 1st of October. This will be a whole new experience for me and Issac because he will be staying with the girls. Speaking of which they were totally ok with being sure that our classes are spaced in a way that we will have plenty of time to switch of with the kids. Seriously we would have never dreamed up a more perfect situation for ourselves. This weekend we will be in Guadalajara looking for a house, bank, school for Alana, etc. etc. So all who pray shoot one up for us. I'm convinced that this is from God so I know he will help us to get all things in order by the right time but extra prayers are always good. ;)

Dios Sabe, verdad!!!!!!

I was telling a friend the other day, I wonder if God will always turn me on my head when I least expect it. Most likely the answer is yes, its called refinement, hes making me into his diamond and I'm loving it. Just seeing what he has done inside of me over the last two years even is amazing. The old Amanda right now would not be sleeping, Id be biting my lips, Id be fretting. But not now.. the what ifs are not coming.. the how will we such and such is not coming. I'm secure in the fact that God will carry us through this. Sure we have to do the leg work and investigation on things, but he will provide all things in the end.

getting caught up

2010-09-19T17:23:00.000-07:00

I finally responded to my comments from over 4 posts ago. My life went from looking for more projects to do at home to feeling a little busy. And of course the blog got put on the back burner. For this post I want to post some pics of our Independence week. We had a great time at Alanas school party and had visitors from Guadalajara for the grito and festivities. We have actually had a very exciting weekend since then and I will for sure be writing a whole other post on that. But for now enjoy some photos. ;)

seguro: Seven month appointment

2010-09-12T12:59:00.001-07:00

So this was to be the big happy easy appointment because my husband would be there with me. First I need to say that this one appointment with the nurse turned into another appointment with the doctor the next day due to me having some small issues (Ill discuss those issues later).This "easy" appointment turned out to be a bust. I found that after a few months of freedom of speech and understanding it was more frustrating to me to have him around. You see unlike Alanas teacher these people normally dont have a choice and must communicate with me. So speech is slowed and they let me take my time explaining things. When the nurse started talking I felt my head spin around in a circle she was talking so quickly. And because Issac knows how "well" Iv been doing there he was a little frustrated or confused about me constantly asking for translation. (He never said this but I could tell). And more than once I was stopped in what I was trying to say in spanish and told to let Issac tell them. GRRRR.... yes I'm showing my teeth...and squinting my eyes just remembering.
So now I'm actually looking forward to my next appointment without him. Funny how and why your feelings about something can change.

Aside from the annoyances of language barrier the appointment went as usual sort of. Because she established early on that she wanted me to visit the doctor she did no vitals checks, or sized the baby. Basically my gall bladder has been presenting itself as more of an annoyance and because of that causing other minor irritations around the bum region. I wont go into more detail anyone who has been pregnant knows what I'm talking about. But apparently this is enough for me to actually talk to the doctor about. At first I wasn't really sure why but the next day.. yes you read that right they got me an appointment the very next day and in the evening no less SO THAT MY HUSBAND COULD ACCOMPANY ME!!! Ok really I'm glad they are so accommodating about having him come with me I'm just being and independent snob. We then discussed our birth control plan with the nurse. As Iv said before they are very preoccupied with this and we discuss it almost every appointment. Our plan is for hubby to have surgery. The nurse simply wrote up a requesto or a request for us to bring to the hospital for them to make Issacs appointment. She told us it would be best to plan it for the same time as I have the baby that way he gets some extra days home with me. This was such a great idea. She explained that he would only have pain for about a day but that the seguro can grant him 3 days off work. (so we are quickly adding it up and with his 2 days he gets for having a baby and his normal one day off in the week he gets almost a whole week to stay home with us. She scheduled the date for a few days after my due date (which is back to Dec2). And if it happens that I have the baby sooner or later he just has to go in to see her and she will change the date. She did tell us to come see her the next day after we talked to the doctor and fill her in how things went.
So the next day we visited the doctor she did all the vials and some measurements of the belly and poking around in other areas. She then wrote me some prescriptions. I see that this is the reason I was sent to her. She also further restricted my diet and now Im banned from red meats, and oddly enough things like tostadas. When they write you prescriptions at the seguro its not like when another dr writes you one and you think ok which ones can I afford to get. Everything they write you is give to you of no charge. My gosh we always feel like we just hit the jack pot when we leave the seguro pharmacy with loaded arms. For free I got a box of Metamucil, a cream, some suppositories, three things of vitamins, tylenol, buscapina (its an antiinflamitory that is geared towards you digestive tract and is a blessing to me). I stuffed my purse full of the medication and we were on our way. Oh I forgot to mention that we did go back to the nurses office after the doctor and didn't get much done back there. Because the appointment was so late the nurses secretary was already gone so they couldn't actually schedule my next appointment nor the appointment for Issac. She also wants me to get some blood work done but for her to fill out the requesto she had to know the date of my next appointment so they get me in before then. So I get to go back on Monday to set up my appointment and get mine and Issacs paper work to bring to the hospital for our blood work. Sometimes going through the seguro is a pain in the butt but I just have to remind oneself I'm not really paying them for their service.
When leaving we were excited to be on our way or so we thought, the truck was out of gas and after all that Issac had to walk to get gas. The good thing is I think this gave us both time to blow off our steam about the whole translations/language barrier thing. So there it is folks there should only be two or three more of these posts before I get to tell you about the hospital.

Oh some really good news is that I booked my moms flight and her passport is on the way. She will be arriving November 10th which will give her a few weeks to get adjusted before I will need a lot of help and she will be here till Jan 19th (the day after my birthday). We are all so excited about this. She will be our first family visiting since I moved here.

Junta General

2010-09-07T08:37:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the meeting with the whole school to pick the board members and go over general stuff. Things started off well and the girls were sitting quietly and eating their snacks so I was able to keep up. My husband was of course there with me and if I didn't get something he told me. Basically the superintendent over a few of the schools was there and giving a bit of a lecture on how parents should be involved with their kids. Its a huge problem here that parents just dont talk to their kids about school and seem to not care if they are even going. She also explained what the board was and that it had to be all parents and not teachers. Part of that is to make the parents be more involved. Then the picking got started. Finding people to volunteer for the positions like secretary, and treasury were easy but when they got to the president things stopped. Absolutely no one wanted to do it. This was so upsetting to me because I would love to do it but cant. Many times the moms would suggest someone and that person would decline. Including my husband... yes one of the ladies from our class looked at him and said, "cant you do it." He said he wished he could but he works a lot and wouldn't be able to commit the way he should. Again a huge "sigh" from me (on the inside of course), and I was trying to remember his words to me after the last junta while I was in tears, "its only her first year of kinder, you'll be doing all the things you want to be in a year or so, just hang in till then." As they kept asking and the director and superintendent kept repeating what the presidents roll would be, Issac could see me squirming and whining inside myself. He finally said, "Well if I agree to do it will you do most of it but Ill just join at the meetings for the translations." I wanted to kiss him right then and there. I would have never suggested it because he really does work a lot and I know the last thing he needs is a school meeting every time he is off work. As we discussed it a lady finally agreed to do it. He just smiled at me with a "next year." look.
Oh but wait now they need a vise president and no wanted that one either. So my (handsome lovely night in shining armor) hubby stood up (and you could see some of the ladies relax a bit) and said, my wife and I could do it together, and my only day off is wed so meetings would have to held then or you would have to work with my wife's language ability. Everyone was shaking their heads yes and in agreement and then he went up front with the others that had been "elected". For now I of course stayed in the back with the girls but I'm so happy that we are going to be involved and know whats going on and have some say so in it all. For the rest of the meeting I was kind of in and out with the girls but I got the gist of what was going on. First they talked about payment for the school. So here we were thinking even though it was gov school we would still have to pay a hefty inscription and monthly payment (the private inscriptions are like 1-15thousand pesos and a monthly payment of 500p) Here the total payment is to be 550p. The issue is that sometimes people just dont pay when going to gov schools and others have to pick up the slack. A gov school can not prevent a child from coming to class if their parents haven't paid (whoo hoo for that, its not the kids fault). So there was like an hour discussion over all this and thanks to Issacs wonderful idea I think the left it where everyone was happy. He suggested that they could have a few payment plans, one is that you can pay the whole amount before mid December and if you do you pay only 500p. Then if you want they can split it up so that you pay little by little each month (50p), and if you dont pay by a certain date each month you will have to pay more (60p) and the amount you pay will keep going up until you pay. This was a great idea and I'm glad I'm not the treasury who has to keep up with it all. But she was even in agreement so I think its gonna work out. This money will go to hygiene, utilities and safety and we will get a read out of what all it is spent on.
I'm not sure if I mentioned that at the junta with the teacher she gave us yet another form to fill out about our children. This form had the normal personal info about name, parents, contacts ext but also asked in depth questions about the child's behavior and how the parents normally respond. Apparently the reason classes were only 2 hours the last couple weeks was because the teachers were suppose to have an interview with each parent after class and go over these questions. Instead we just got the paper last Friday and were told to bring it back filled out. The superintendent said she noticed this and that she was going to suspend the 3 hour classes for the next 2 weeks again and make them 2 hours so the teachers would do the interviews. Are the teachers going to do it? We dont know yet. Alanas teacher was still collecting the papers from the parents and stating that this is how she had done it every year. I wish she would do an interview because I think its a great interaction between parents and teachers but we shall see.
We were also informed that there would be a total of five holiday parties that would be held at the school and the total year cost of these classes is 150p.
We were also given their menu's which is the food we are to send with them each day. We will be getting these every Friday and the kids are expected to have exactly what is written or it will be taken away. They waited till after the first two weeks to do this just to see what the parents were sending. Sure enough parents were sending their kids to school with sugary snacks and chips. So now we get to be regimented, I'm fine with this though because now I dont have to try to get creative with her lunches. ;)

Total cost: 1628p
Parties 150p
School maintenance 500p
School materials 300p
pencil bag 20p
New book bag (Im not sure on the price yet, we have been using a small one she had but her book wont fit in it once she gets it so we will have to add this on later)
Uniforms:
Sweets (can only be bought at the school) 250p
shoes and undergarments (soriana) 185p
Falda or skirt (made by neighboor) 65p material 70p for 2 dresses made
2 pair socks (downtown) 12p
sweater (downtown) 95p

A few more things that were not at the junta. Today it looked like rain so I drove Alana to school. We picked up our new friends on the way (we have friends, lol). Then when I was talking to the teacher I was trying to explain that I wrote up some recipes for the moms and that I would bring copies sometime this week. She looked utterly confused so I laughed and said I was like talking to a kid. Well that's what I think I said, although from her response I think it came out more like, I'm like talking to my daughter. Because the teachers reply was that it was not at all like talking to Alana because Alanas spanish was really good. Although I'm laughing about this I kind of like dang my baby has already surpassed me I need to get on this.
Well I also picked up the same friend on the way home because I got carried away writing this post and left the house a little late and had to drive to pick her up also. On the way home my new friend explained how her sister lives in the states and her kids (my friends sobrinos) speak only English. My friends son wants to learn English so he can talk with his primos. I told her to come over any weekend for some coffee and we could let the kids play and let Alana tell him some words, and that also I had some videos that might help him learn words. I explained that after he learns some words then I would start communicating with him only in English and I would also ask Alana to do the same. But I feel he needs to have a grasp on some words before the communication starts.

First school meeting

2010-09-03T18:51:00.000-07:00

Today was the last day of the second week of school and we and the school are finally getting some info. Wednesday when I dropped Alana off I saw a poster up that said Attencion. Thankfully as I was reading it I heard another mom asking about it because it kind of didn't make sense to me. Apparently it was written weird and even those who know spanish well were a little confused. So I listened in on her questions to the director (I guess that's what I should call her)and I got what I could out of it. I then approached the ladies who have sort of "taken me in." They live right on my block and helped me find someone else who lives on our block to make Alanas uniform. Also they are always sure to slow their pace if they know I'm behind them or ask me if we want a ride if they see us walking to school. One of these ladies actually has a daughter in Alanas class so she explained things to me and offered to come by and explain to my husband just to be sure I was not misunderstanding anything. This was a major relief to me. Well she wasn't able to come by and explain things to my husband because she came down with a bug and here is how things played out.
From what I could understand we were to have a junta (meeting) with the teacher on Thursday morning at nine and the kids would be having class that day, and then next Monday the whole kinder would have a junta with the director. Thursdays are a very busy day for my husband and we decided I would go and do my best and hopefully our neighbor could fill him in on everything. I hated the idea and so did Issac but we didn't have much of a choice. Walking to school that morning I was a little nervous but had my pen and paper and was ready to do what I could. But when I showed up the teacher handed me a paper and "reminded" me of the junta tomorrow. Opps I got jueves and viernes confused again, I do this a lot for some reason. But the good thing is that it was no big deal for Issac to switch to evenings for Friday so he could go to the meeting with me. The paper she sent home with me was one to fill out information on Alana. It was all information that we had already filled out for her inscription, and on her first week of school that I gave again to the director. I'm assuming this is the teachers personal copy of the info on each kid. It was simple things like the CURP, ht, wt, domicillo ( address)with this they want to know not only the street you live on and your house number but the streets that you live between also, I find this odd. Anyway also they ask for the parents names and jobs and phone numbers. I also find this interesting considering so far I had not been asked for my phone number. We did give it to them on a piece of paper the first day of school but that was our own idea and was not requested. In a lot of cases I like the laid back style here but in this one I feel it was dangerous for all those kids to be at school for two weeks without any emergency numbers on file. Anyway I came home and filled it out, mainly just to prove to myself I could do it, and because I was annoyed at the fact the teacher specifically told me to have my husband fill it out. I know I should be able to let this stuff go knowing how my spanish isn't great but being the independent person I am it gets to me. So once I had fluffed my ego by filling it out I had Issac check everything on it the next day ( I did good!! lol)
This morning we got there a little before nine and the teacher told us to go on in with Alana. When the bell rang they had only the parents go into the class room and brought the kids out and the teacher had some class time with them during the first part of the morning. I was expecting this to all be a brief overview of what they do in class and a quick vote on if we should buy the materials individually or give the teacher money. Oh boy was I wrong and completely unprepared (we didn't bring diapers for Joslin nor food). I should have known better from reading blogs such as Leslies.

First we sat through about and hour and a half of lecture and questions on proper nutrition. I'm so glad they did this because its one of my pet peeves down here. I'm also glad they did it because it gave me a new perspective on things. I thought people just ate and feed their kids the way they did because well they just dont care or its just the way things are or eating right is just to much of a hassle. But seriously these ladies seemed like it was the first time they were hearing any of this information. I realize I take my education and my quest for learning for granted. What I didn't learn in school I have self taught through many hours of reading. I actually told a few of the ladies I would bring in some healthy recipes because they were talking about how they wanted to try to eat right but didn't know how. They actually asked the nutritionist if they could make it a school project to get recipes together to send home with the kids. So there appeared to be a real interest and this was exciting to me. During my years of nursing, teaching this type of thing was drilled into my head and the importance of jumping when you see the willingness to learn. So I'm ready to jump and I hope I can help in the way I want to be able to. I'm thinking about putting the food guide pyramid on the back of the paper I use to type up the recipes. Most of the women were doing their best to jot it down during the lecture but I could tell they were not quite getting it. I couldn't believe some of the questions that were being asked and how many of the mothers were agreeing that they didn't know these different things. But again I'm just excited to see that they were eager to learn and were listening with interest. During this whole thing the few things I didn't catch Issac was sure to whisper to me and no one seemed to mind.
Next the teacher came back (apparently the class was now watching a movie with another class) and was ready to do her part. I missed a lot of this because due to a wet diaper and a hungry belly and it being nap time poor Joslin was getting a little restless so I was standing outside the door rocking her in the stroller and Issac was standing near enough to explain things to me randomly. Basically the teacher went over that at times she had to be fuerte (strong) with some of the kids if they didn't listen that she intends to not grita or yell at them but that she does sometimes talk strongly to them. I'm thinking well no kidding but some of the moms seemed like they were not sure this should happen and asked to be sure she didn't hit the kids. The teacher explained that she nor any other teacher in the school hits the kids and mothers who had other kids that had been at the kinder a couple years agreed with her. She then talked about the uniforms and dates that we had to have them by, thankfully we have till the 13th because the lady who is making Alanas has not let us know they are ready yet. And of course the debate about materials. Issac and I were all for her taking money up and the teacher buying it all herself. This would insure all the kids had the same stuff and that one person didn't end up supplying for other kids. After her explanation of the same thing and lots of questions everyone agreed on collecting money. The teacher didn't want to be the collector and one mom agreed to do it. So we have to give her 300p before next Friday and the teacher will go to Guad over the weekend and buy all the stuff. Other than that all we have to buy is a clear pencil holder or bag and put Alanas name on it. And finally we got the fun part and talked about the fiesta for Independence. I have to say that getting to be involved in this kind of stuff is one reason I'm so glad Alana is in school. We have missed out on a lot of the culture over the last couple years because we cant ever figure out whats going on. Here is the best part, since hubby was the only dad actually inside the class room (their were two others but they were hanging around the door and in and out the whole time) and he was also a good participant the whole time he got asked to dress up for the party. I'm so excited and for sure you all will see pictures. Seriously my husband is the best man I know, he accepted with a smile and will love doing it. And here comes the worst part. None of the women wanted to dress up and I told Issac I could do it. He proudly said, "Mi esposa puede." And all the women looked at me and were excited. But then the teacher is like, that might not be a good idea. She explained to Issac that there will be a short camio for whoever dresses up. While Issacs explaining this to me the teacher is explaining to the rest of the moms that my Spanish sucks. Ok I know that's not how she put it (shes very nice and works well with me when I do talk with her) and I know the horrific scene of 15-20 moms shaking their heads and doing an "oh ok we see now" face prob wasn't as bad as it seemed... but... well... I have no words. I know this is only the beginning and I'm trying to brace myself but the more I think about it the more I'm getting irritated by it. I'm a doer, I'm involved, I'm active... and damn it I cant be now. As we were picking up Alana from the movie room Issac suggested that Monday I should stay at home with the girls and he could go to the meeting alone. I know what he was thinking was for the girls sake but this hurt. And of course instead of saying anything, I got snippy with him on the way home and just briefly mentioned that the language barrier sucks. Iv since talked to my sister and and I think I need to be at that meeting. I need to feel that I'm doing all I can to understand and be involved even if I have to tote along the girls and ask Issac to explain constantly.
I really cant explain to you how bad it sucks to not be able to jump in and say what I want and be as involved as I want. It may be prego hormones and it may not be but I'm sitting here with tears in my eyes. I'm hoping after writing this post and talking some more about it with my husband (poor guy) that I will be able to walk back into the school with a renewed since of confidence on Monday.
I'm starting to feel that my Spanish needs to move to the next level but I'm not sure how to get it there. I do really well with a one on one or two conversation now but if there is more than two people I just cant keep up unless its people who know me well and make sure that I do (like Issacs family). I cant expect people to cater to me forever and I need to step it up... but how?

All in all the meeting went well and we got all the information we needed. I hope I added enough of that in with my sob story for those of you who may be looking to enroll your kids someday. If I left anything out about the school you want to know please ask!!!

Christmas in August

2010-08-31T11:02:00.000-07:00

The longer I live here the less I think about what I miss from the states. The great thing is that even though I dont miss things when they do show up I'm so excited about them. For example Issacs mom sent us a huge jar of Jiff PB. This is sold in the larger cities in Mexico but around here all you can get is some junk called Aladine or sometimes they have a very small container of Jiff that is so over priced its not worth buying. So that was supper exciting we got it about 3 weeks ago and its almost gone. But then about a week ago I received a care package from my sister. I have the best sister in the world, in case I hadn't said that before. She has sent me things and done more running around in the states for me than anyone should ever be expected to do. We decided that she should try out the regular mail service this time around because we seem to have a lot of bumps in the road with the other mail services. Also we found out recently that packages go through the same random red light green light as people do as they cross the boarder. So I'm thinking the smaller and less conspicuous (because I still doubt the randomness of the red light green light) the better. So she got the Medium flat rate box and packed it tight and sent it on it its way. I GOT IT 5 DAYS LATER!!!!!! That is so much faster than any of the mail couriers we have used. She sent me two prego shirts, some magazines, shorts for hubby, fun bath markers and color changing tabs for the girls, happy meal toys for the girls, cars for the new baby and other random things for the girls. We are loving all of it and is so nice to have quality cloths from the states. I do really miss Kohls. Then this weekend we were privileged to have our friends Rebbecca her hubby and their son stay with us at our house. She comes in like Santa and gave my girls all kinds of toys, cloths and shoes and all new stuff. I was so shocked.. when she had asked for sizes I was thinking she was hitting up some yard sales which would have been great also, but these were all new. This is a big deal here, you see cloths cost about the same here as they do their except they are made cheaper and there are fewer sales. I refused to buy cloths unless they are on sale here because they are never even close to worth the original prices. Anyway the girls loved all their stuff and are still playing with the toys and are so excited about the cloths. She also brought me lovely books and magazines. I'm so excited because as usually this came just in time. I am currently reading the last book on my shelf that I hadn't read and its not one I'm liking all that much. One of the best things ever is that she helped me to set up a magic jack. A few months ago I went on a rant about not being able to connect with certain family members the way I wish I could. A lot of you wrote me with different ideas some of which I was already using. A lot of those ideas were just out of our cost range but this one was not thankfully. Thanks to this I have already spoken to a couple friends who haven't had time to sit in front of their computer to skype and I can communicate more frequently with my sister and mom. I cant imagine how much it could have helped and lightened my sisters load if we would have had this two years ago but hey its better now than never. Also because were pretty sure this new baby coming is a boy she brought us some of her sons old cloths. This helps a lot because I have girls and dont have boy anything.
During my walks to and from Alanas school I try to take that time to reflect on God and my relationship with him and so on and so forth. These last couple days of walks have just been full of thanksgiving. God has always put such great people in our lives and has always taken care of us. I'm so thankful for where we are in our lives and things are going so well. I actually love living here now. I love that before 10am I have said good morning and smiled at tons of people most of which I barely know or do not know at all. I love that I am getting to know my neighbors and feel so safe and cared for. Really this could go on for some times so Ill stop now and leave this blog with how thankful I am for the Christmas in August. ;)

Thanks Suegra... Thanks Burkharts.... Thanks Rebbecca and family.

Primer dia de Kinder

2010-08-23T11:16:00.000-07:00

Today was the big day, Alanas first day of kinder and my first time leaving one of my kids somewhere with out me or a loved one close by. But really I must start this post with a story from yesterday. You see Alana was daily showing me signs that she was ready for school. We do a class time almost every day and she has been doing so well and learning so much. Yesterday I was laying on the couch while Joslin napped and Alana was playing quietly on the other couch. I knew she was looking at my scrapbook from our visit to the states and then I hear it.....
I wish you could hear this in her sweet voice, I hear her sound out the letters..." V-I-S-I-T," this part didn't phase me because she is always trying to read and often will sit and sound out the letters to words. But then I heard her put the sounds together and say the word, Visit. I could hear the surprise in her voice as I opened my eyes and we both got all excited. She read her first word all by herself and understood what it was she was reading. I cant tell you how proud I was and still am. She is so smart and and it was so cool to see the recognition of what she had just done on her face. I'm so glad that happened at home and not at school. I have frozen that moment in my mind and hope to never loss it.
This morning started out as every other morning does except that she had a dry bed which was a plus. So we all got chocolate milk and lots of whoohoos this morning. Then I sat and watched them play or held them while I drank up my morning cup of vitamin C (my coffee that is). Around eight we did our normal get dressed and clean up routine except this morning I had to throw together a little bite for Alana to eat at school and Tia Irma was here with us also. I find it funny that they want you to bring them a snack when they are there only two or three hours. I think its because most people here eat breakfast at like nine or ten AM so these kids are used to having something during the time they will now be in school. I was so thankful even last night that Tia Irma came to help. For one I wouldn't have sent Alana with food and two I would have sent her in an dress that would not have been as comfortable as what we later picked out. Also this morning before leaving she called us all together to pray over Alana and her first day of school. Which I think is a great way to start out the new school year but was to preoccupied to think of doing it myself. (Side note to Alice, I hardly ever used the word preoccupied before I learned Spanish.)
We headed out around 830 because like a true Mexican I waited till today to make a copy of the paper we got from the SEP office (thanks Theresa). I waited in the truck with the girls and did a cute little video of Alana while my tia made the copies. I went ahead and drove the rout we would have walked just to show Tia Irma where we would be walking every day. She agreed that it is almost an easier walk than drive because at one point you have to double back on yourself when driving. I know she will give Issacs mom the full run down so I was trying to show her everything. We got to the school a little early but the gate was open and we went to the building that was obviously the main office. There are only three buildings two of which are just one room classroom buildings. The principal (not sure if that's what they call them here, but the lady in charge) was a little gruff but totally helpful. She gave us a list of documents that I needed to bring copies of when I came back to pick Alana up today. She informed us that for the first two weeks class would only be from 9am to 11 instead of noon and on that third week times would go to noon. She showed us which building was to be Alanas class and told us to show the paper we had to the teacher so she could put Alana on her list. We walked over to the building (class room) and I fallowed Tia's lead. She not only has done this with her kids but also with a lot of kids from the childrens home. We talked to the teacher from outside the door while she was busy doing things inside the classroom. To me she didn't seem to be hearing much of what we were saying but did eventually take the paper we had and asked what the Alanas name was. We told her and she wrote it down in a little note book she had on her desk. Tia also explained that sometimes when Alana doesn't understand something she says, "no quiero." (I dont want to) I forgot to teach her to say no intiendo (I dont understand) until like a week ago and for some reason she keeps switching them up. I didn't want the teacher to think she was being a little brat when really she just didn't understand what was going on. We also were sure to tell the helper because like I said the teacher seemed a little to preoccupied to pay any attention to us. During all of this Alana kept saying, "Im ready mom!" Finally when we were all let in the classroom Alana found herself a cubby for her jacket and backpack as if she had been doing it every day of her life and picked a chair at the table and sat down. She then looked up at me like, "Oh your still here?" So I reminded her again to listen to her teacher and to be a good girl, and that I loved her and could I have one more kiss. SHE GAVE ME HER CHECK!!!!! (Seriously what am I in for). My Tia was waving me that it was time for us to leave so I gave Alana her peck on the check and hugged her tight and walked out. At the door I turned to wave at her and of course she wasn't looking my way so I said, "Adios Alana." And she turned and beamed at me like she was totally in her element.
Tia Irma and I headed from there to see Papi at the store so she could relay everything and be sure I didn't miss something. Papi was a little sad but after seeing Alana beaming in the pictures I took his spirits were lifted. You just cant be sad about something that your child is so dang happy about and ready for. I ran Tia for a couple errands and dropped her off downtown so I could go make the copies of Alanas paperwork. I did come home and try to look online for Alanas CURP number which is the only thing I'm missing but didn't have any luck. Issac will have to look it up and print it off for tomorrow. Joslin fell asleep on the way home so when I got home thankfully I only had about thirty min before I needed to leave to go make the copies and pick her up. After keeping myself busy on face book and being sure I had all the documents I needed, I put sleeping Joslin in the stroller and headed out. One quick stop at the papalaria for the copies and we were on our way. Its only about a 13 min walk with Alana is with me so it only took me ten to get there. I was happy to see I was not the only mom there 20min early. When we showed up the kids were playing outside and I was trying to be sure and find Alana so she didn't see me. I found her sitting under a tree watching the kids play. I was kinda sad but then she quickly got up and started chasing some of the kids around. All the kids are from our neighborhood so they most likely already know each other. I know it wont take her long though it never does. Then they bell rang and for the last 15 min you could hear the kids singing a song in the other building (which is the third year kinder) and Alanas building was pretty quiet. I dont know how these teachers do it there are at least 30 kids in Alanas class. During all this wait I'm feeling more and more like an outcast because all the moms seem to know each other which I'm sure they do. And I couldn't catch up with any of the conversations quick enough to try and jump in. So I just sat there and talked with Joslin. Right before the wait was over I saw a familiar face coming towards me. It was our old pastors wife (this was the church we went to before we moved). We got to talking and their youngest son will be in Alanas class. Issac and I are both a little unsure about this because this is the most unruly kid you will ever meet. Alana not playing with him every Sunday was one of the upsides to us moving and finding this other church close by. I'm really not exaggerating here this kid listens to no one including his parents. Maybe being in school will calm him down a bit we shall all see. But it on the other hand it is nice to already know one of the other moms. I was happy to find that instead of letting the kids all just run out and find their parents the teacher stood at the door with them and called out the kids name. The parents then went up and got their child. Alana came out happy to see us and tell me what all went on. I was the only mom there with a camera but I didn't let that stop me, as you will see below. Im sure this wont be the first time. lol
We walked over to the little park and I gave Alana her bubbles and a doughnut as a first day of school surprise. Our walk home was actually kinda crowded with others who live in our neighborhood. I ended up asking one of the moms about how they got the little girls uniform and was able to chat with them a bit. The funny thing is that once they realized I was "not from around here"... actually once I said, "perdon me español no es muy bien." The one lady was like Oh I know who you are, your friends with my friend .... yep I cant remember her name. This lady apparently knows one of the ladies I go to church with. Im so bad with names anyway and no living here its worse so I'm not sure exactly which lady. Well one of the ladies knows of a lady in our neighborhood who will make the dresses for cheap. She is going by there tonight and was going to ask how much fabric I would need to buy and how much to make the dresses. So all in all I think we all did a great job today, and I still might let a few tears fall tonight. ;)

Kinder

2010-08-20T10:44:00.000-07:00

In February any child who will be going to kinder in August is suppose to get what they call here their inscription. I had no idea what I was doing and really no one was of any help around here. The problem comes in that there are tons of private kinders and at least 50 public or government kinders in my town. This is a good thing in a way because you are sure to find one close to home. I visited a few on my own and ended up with more questions than answers. Also in February we knew we would be moving before August and didn't want to put her into a school and then end up living far from it. Thankfully Issacs mom was staying in a town not far from here with his grandma and said she could get Alanas inscription for that town and when Aug came would could let the school know we moved but that she at least had her inscription somewhere so she should be let in. I actually just gave his mom Alanas papers and she took care of all of it for us. This was such a huge blessing. To prove how hard it is to figure anything out here my friend who is Mexican but not from this town was having as hard of a time of things as we were. About a month ago because we were now settled into our new house Issac and I decided we needed to check out some of the schools close by. Thankfully after all this mess from before Issac decided he should go with me this time. After the second school and our questions getting more precise a lady told us that there is an office that knows all the kinders, which have openings, and could help us to find one that is close to the house. We were thankful for this information and at the same time a little irritated that this was the first we had heard of this office. We quickly went to see the place and where told that we needed to wait until the second week of August and call for an appointment. She was helpful in telling us it was a good thing Alana had her inscription and that when the time came she would help us find a good school for her. A couple weeks ago we called the office and were told to show up on the morning of Monday the 17th at 9am. When I brought to Issac attention that there was no Monday the 17th he decided it must be Monday the 16th. So on that Monday he went into work at his normal time and then came to get me and the girls around 830. We had been told there may be a wait but when we got there it was empty. The guy told us it was the next day and that we should show up a lot earlier because there were a lot of people that would be in line. Well we knew Issac wouldn't be able to leave work two mornings in a row so I was on my own the next day. I showed up with both girls in tow at about 815 and the line was almost a block down the street. Around 9am when they opened they handed out fechas or numbers, I WAS 56, I cant imagine how long some of those people had already been waiting. Thankfully around 930 a friend of mine (the same one earlier mentioned) meet up with me there in line. She did go up and get a fecha which was 108 but stood in line with me so she could help me if I needed it. We waited in line outside until eleven. At the door we didn't mention her fecha and they helped us both. They simply asked what colonia we lived in and found that page. There are at least 10 Colonias and each page had at least five schools on it. They thengave us the school they thought was closest to our house. Thankfully me and the girls have been doing some walking every day and about a week ago had ran across the very kinder they picked for Alana. I was glad because this one is only a 12-14 min walk from the house. We dont have school buses here and although we have the truck its nice to know we can get there if something is wrong with it. We then were told to go sit in a row of seats and wait in line again. By about 1130 we were finally at the desk where they lady put the girls info in the computer and gave me a print out of the paper I need to bring to the school on Monday.
From what I understand on Monday Alana will be able to participate in class and I will be given the list of school items and what type of uniform to get her. I'm a little nervous about this because Issac will not be able to take off work to go with me. I have asked his aunt if she will be able to come into town to help me out but I'm not sure if that will happen yet. Anyway it was a headache and took more than three hours but in the end turned out ok and heres wishing next year will go smoother.

Seguro: Six month appointment

2010-08-14T13:29:00.000-07:00

My appointment yesterday was set up at 330pm so my husband was again unable to go with me. Upon arrival they always give you your next appointment right away, I had to request a later hour and she said she could but that the date may be off a bit. Next month is my 7th month appointment and Issac is suppose to come with me so they can schedule him for his procedure. This was fine it ended up being only a few days earlier than it should have been and is at six in the eve so Issac will have no trouble making it. The girls and I got there about 320 and were not called in till almost five. They were nice enough to come out and tell us that there had been some emergencies and they apologized that they were running late. By the time we got in there though the girls were pretty restless and due to me not getting a nap that day I was pretty tired. I think this was all apparent and the nurse asked one of the student nurses to help with the girls and to get them toothbrushes to play with. There where two nurses in training and the one main nurse. She asked me a few questions and then I got on the table. The one male trainee who measured my stomach is the same one I dealt with last time. He also measured the babies heart rate and before giving it to the main nurse asked me if I had been exercising. I explained that me and the girls take walks every day and other than that running after the girls is exercise. Then he is like, no I mean just now. I thought, seriously!?!?!? Iv been waiting in the waiting area for the last hour and a half with a four year old and a one year old. Thankfully the more experienced nurse was feeling my frustration and asked for the heart rate. It was normal and she told him that. When he explained that my rate was faster than he thought it should be, she was quick to explain that I had been in the waiting room with two active kids. This would not be the first time I was thankful for her. This kid will be a good nurse some day due to his attention to detail but there is a time and a place for everything and being sensitive to where people are is a big part of being a good nurse. He then grabbed the teaching chart and I'm thinking Oh God not again. Normally Im all about the teaching and I like to hear what it is they are telling women. On this day I was just not up for it. He was reviewing what we had gone over the last time. Ok here is a part I didn't divulge last time because it could make some readers uncomfortable but I have to this time it was just to much. He read through a whole thing that was recommending agitating my nipples so they would not be to sore to feed when the baby is born. He also recommended and showed me a picture of a bra that had the nipples cut out of it to give room for swelling. The last time I was just sure I had misunderstood something and that the picture was meaning something else. Surely they dont expect women to cut up their bras. (I also dont agree with the agitating part either but I wont go into all that, I know some people even in the states feel this is a good idea). So when he got to that page he is like have you been doing this, and I lied and said yes. Then he pointed to the cut up bra and asked if I had done that and I said no. He then goes on to tell me to be sure and get an old bra or one I dont like and to be sure and do this. I'm thinking dude this is the worse time in the world for me to be wearing old bras. So not only does it need holes it doesn't matter if its supportive and comfortable. So I just nodded my head so we could move on. The next page was the food guide and he wanted me to repeat back to him what he had told me the last month. Ok like I said I´m normally all for this stuff, but for one I'm tired, two I had already been there an hour longer than expected and was getting hungry and with these two items I could not think clear Spanish. It was only after eating and telling my husband about this next part that I got the giggles about it. So although in the situation I was frustrated please feel free to laugh at this. He apparently wasn't excited about me simply saying that I needed to eat from each of the food groups and was asking me to tell him what foods I should eat with ice (hielo). Not until much confusion and him deciding to list the foods for me did I realize he was saying hierro (iron). As soon as he started with the legumes, spinach, red meats bit I'm like ohhhhhhh hierro. And he looks at me like Im crazy and says yes. I was to tired to explain what I had thought he was saying so I quickly called off a few other foods that had hierro. He then decides to explain to me why this is important and I'm sad to say at this point I cut him off and said I already knew. I haven't told them yet that I'm a nurse and I felt now would be a rude time for it but it was coming close to my lips. Thankfully when he flipped the page and asked if he had talked to me about baby care and I said no the other nurse stopped him. She said that I still have two more visits with them and that he should spread out his teaching. I hope she saw the gratitude on my face, and I explained that the next time would be better anyway because my husband would be there to help clear up any confusions. It was then my turn to ask questions and as always they were patient with my round about way of explaining what I needed to know. I was asking about the labor and delivery process. After talking to a few people I was starting to think I had some confusions about how things would go at the hospital. And I was right thank goodness. The labor room and recovery room are general rooms set up with up to 6 women. But when your actually ready to deliver they take you into a private room for the birth of the baby. So as long as we wait long enough Ill just go right into a private room until after the baby is born. This was a huge relief an I will be praying that God will help us to know the right timing. Let me know if I left anything out or if anything is confusing. I just wrote this in like 4 settings. I want this to help out those of you who may be needing the seguro for treatment in the future or now.

Oh yes and abuot the walks.

2010-08-07T19:18:00.000-07:00

My last post became something entirely different than what I started it to be. So I changed the title and took this little bit out that I'm about to write now. Issac went to a game with some work buddies tonight so I have time to actually post this one now.
One thing I did yesterday regardless of my sinus headache and the feelings I discussed in the last post was to write up a daily schedule.
When we first moved to Mexico Alana and I would go on walks every day. Mainly out of curiosity but also because I was insanely restless due to moving from hectic full time working to doing nothing all day. When I found out I was pregnant we would make sure and walk at least 30 min every day. After having Joslin I got out of the routine and sadly over a year later we have not picked it back up. I realized when we were downtown and my four year old complained the whole time about walking that it was time to pick it back up. Another reason for the schedule was because we had slaked on our reading time. Joslin just was not old enough to sit through story time so I have not been doing a daily reading time with Alana. We still do a class time while Joslin naps in the mornings but reading just for fun got sat aside for running after Joslin. Lately Iv noticed Joslin is getting better about sitting through books and when not listening will at least play close by. So while I watched them play and I nursed my poor head I wrote us up a little schedule to include both and all the other things we do each day. I put it on construction paper and put times on it. I plan to use it to help teach Alana about time and how at certain times of the day you do different things.
About my sinus headache my wonderful husband decided that because I was feeling so bad yesterday he would order pizza instead of me cooking. This was a blessing because Joslin was also being extra chipil and I would have had to put her to cry in the play room while I cooked and did dishes. This would have really split my head. When Issac got home he convinced me to at least do so research on what I could take if I had to take some cold medication. I was never an OB nurse and stayed as far from it as possible so I did need to do a little reading. But after looking it up, and some encouragement from hubby I decided for the well being of me and my girls I would take something. My husband says nurses are the worse patience and I'm sure hes right, it took a lot of convincing but now I'm so glad he did it. I'm only taking like a third of the dose they call for but even that is helping so much with the tea and such helping a little also.
Today thanks to the breakthrough I spoke of in my previous post and the medication helping my headache we followed our schedule. Alana loved looking at the clock and telling me what time it was and then going to the paper to see what we got to do. Even clean up time went a little smother because well its what we were suppose to do at that time.
She was as excited about our walk as I was. We have been randomly walking over the last week or so but not making a habit of it and I was letting Joslin walk also. With Joslin walking there is really no excessive for me and she ends up getting to worn out for us to go to far. Today we put her in the stroller and took off. Its surprising how far you can walk in just 15 min. A couple weeks ago we attempted to walk to a park we had seen but it was to much up and down hill and we were all way to tired on the way home. This time I headed a different direction and kept the walking on mostly flat ground. In Mexico if you walk for a bit (for us it was 15 min) you will usually end up at some kind of a park. Today we ended up at a small park that didn't have to many toys but was very clean. It was next to a church and I assume the church keeps it up. The girls had so much fun finding sticks, playing in the dirt and grass, and climbing on the few toys they had. There was also a basket ball court that they had fun running around on. We played about 20 min and headed home. On the way home we actually saw a garage sale. Can you believe it, those are so rare here and of course everything was way overpriced for a garage sale but it was fun to get to browse. (I use to love going to garage sales, I would set up a whole Sat just to go looking around) After leaving there, just as we are getting going, I hear "Amanda"(said with spanish vowels). At first I just kept walking because I'm just so use to not knowing anyone. Then louder, "Amanda" This time I turn around and I see the daughter of an acquaintance. This person had told me they lived in my area of town and to come by sometime but I never figured Id actually find their house. We ended up visiting with them for a good 45 min before heading home. It was nice to actually have a little visit and feel like you actually know some people. Tomorrow I plan for us to head a slightly different way just to see what we can find. I'm really looking forward to what our walking adventures will bring. After today I see that it will be much different than when I first moved here. So here is three cheers for walking adventures.

Blessed

2010-08-07T13:37:00.001-07:00

I have been so thankful lately for everything in my life. My home and my family are so much more than I could have ever dreamed I would have. Right now I'm sitting in a well sun lit room with a gentle cool breeze flowing through my house, while my girls finish their nap. I'm so at peace with where I am and what my future holds for me. I'm not sure why I just decided to write this post but it just felt write to express this. Maybe because sometimes it just doesn't feel like enough to tell God how pleased I am with what he has given me. I want to tell the world, I want to shout it from the mountains, I want to sing it in song. Luckily for my neighbors I'm well aware of my singing voice so Ill keep a wrap on that one and just express my happiness in my blog. I had recently been feeling a slight discontent or restlessness creeping into my soul, and with no real root or cause. When this happens to me I do my best to focus on all the things I have to be thankful for. Sometimes and with this last week the discontent and restlessness dont just go away, as a matter of fact it may get a little stronger. But I also know from the past that if I continue to pray through this and continue to count my blessings God will see me through. And usually on the other side is a peace and a purpose to my life that I didn't see or have before. To be honest I'm still not sure of the purpose this time around but today I am receiving the peace. Sitting here and looking back to yesterday I see that yesterday was the peak of my restless heart and the break through of Christ in my soul. Its always nice to be reminded who can and always will restore my peace and take away any restlessness that I feel. I read something today that Id like to share. Its funny that I didn't read it until after I felt my break through, but I think its because the restlessness I was feeling was not because I was expecting something from my husband and that's what this centers on. But you can read anything into the pieces where I put parenthesis. To be honest I still cant place where my discontent was coming from and sometimes that's just how it is. The evil one comes to destroy and his purpose is only that, even when he has no foothold he finds a way. But God is always there and will win. Here is the piece I read today. I added words in the parenthesis to make it more relevant to how I was feeling.

In our quest for relational intimacy (for peace, for quietness, for love, for what ever you are looking for), remember there is Someone we can whisper our hearts´ desires to and get our boosts from who will strengthen our integrity, not jeopardize it.
If you are thinking, No way will talking to God ever excite me like talking to a man (person, like watching a show, like reading a book. etc.), then you haven´t allowed yourself to be courted by our Creator. The same God whose words possessed the power to form the entire universe longs to whisper into your hungry heart words that have the power to thrill you, heal you, and draw you into a deeper love relationship than you ever imagined possible. A guy (person or friend) may say that you look fine, but God´s Word says, "I have loved you with an everlasting love, I have drawn you with loving-kindness" (Jeremiah 31:3). Even your husband (or loved one) may tell you"I´m committed to you until death," but God says, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you" (Hebrews 13:5).
Make time to retreat to a quiet place with the Lover of your soul. Speak whatever is on your heart, and then listen as God speaks straight from His heart directly to yours.
(I got this from a book titled Every Women Every Day by Shannon Ethridge but she actually got it from a book titled Every Woman´s Battle)

Not only has God provided me with more than I could have ever imagined in my marriage and my family but he also is the Lover of my soul. This is what I have, and this is real and I just felt the need to share and let you know you can have it to. There is no specifics to it other than just talking to Him and opening up. That is all he wants anything else will come natural.

Its funny because I started this post out to be about me taking walks.... Ill save any of that for another post and let you know in that post how I veered off in this direction. ;)

Chipil

2010-08-03T13:14:00.000-07:00

For this post I decided to do some word research online and this is what I found.
chipil * adj (Méx) sad, gloomy
Chipil Spanish English chipil ADJ MX gloomy ADJ
chipil ADJ MX down-trodden ADJ
chipil ADJ MX sad ADJ
Ya se puso chipil. MX Now he's pouting.
Looking the word up made me a little chipil because its what everyone keeps calling my daughter. But with this word and in our area of Mexico I think it means more than what I found in the dictionaries. Because except when I was pregnant I have never heard someone refer to a grumpy child this way. The impression my husband and I had before I looked it up is more like a child being needy due to the mom being pregnant. They say she can sense my hormones (which I believe) and the upcoming baby. When I was pregnant with Joslin (who is now one) Alana was two, and was only a few times refereed to as chipil. People said she wasn't bad because I was having a sister for her. I didn't really understand the term that time around. This time though I get it. Joslin is being the full extent of the term. Over the last few weeks it have been getting worse and worse, she wants nothing but to be on my lap or me to be carrying her. She asks for her papi all day long and when he shows up she is so happy and gets excited but still wants me only to hold her. I am typing part of this with her on my lap. It gets really bad anytime I try to do something that needs my full attention. For example cleaning or cooking or reading or typing... ok everything. If I just sit on the couch and stare at the wall she will walk off and play but even from the other room its like she can tell I picked up a book and will run in to sit on my lap. Not only does she sit on my lap but she puts her face directly into mine until Im focusing all my attention on her. My main breaks from this is when shes eating (thank goodness right now shes eating) or if I can get her playing outside with her sister but this one doesn't usually last long. The other day I was trying to chat with my sister on skype and my sister was like Oh my now I get it. Joslin was standing on my lap facing me and taking her hands on either side of my face and staring into my face, then she would just wallow me and squirm around like she just wanted to see if I would hang on to her or something. Seriously its crazy and seems to be getting worse. Im not sure what to do about it, I cant just carry her around all day and really I think that is a bad idea anyway considering as soon as the baby comes I wont be able to.
Here is me asking for similar stories or suggestions. ;)

Ultrasound #2, but first with the seguro

2010-08-02T11:40:00.000-07:00

We went to day for our appointment at the hospital for my ultrasound. We made this appointment over three months ago. People had told us not to expect a lot and that it would be nothing like the ones we had with the private doctor nor at the ultrasound clinic we went to for the first one. One thing I didn't expect is that we had almost no wait. Considering it took them more than three months to get me an appointment I expected to have to wait like you do for everything else with the seguro. We had only just sat down when my name was called. The nurse actually was very kind (they usually are, props to nurses) and they let my husband and the girls come in also. The ultrasound tech asked his questions so quickly it was hard for me to understand but after thinking on them a min I was able to answer with little interpretation from my husband. He then slathered me with gel and began his work. He was very quick about the whole thing and only stayed on one body part long enough to get his measurements. I mentioned the sex and he did a fast sweep over the buttocks and legs and stated he thought it was a girl. Click... and turned off the screen. We were then quickly ushered out and told to wait outside while he typed up his info for me to bring to the doctor. We were told again that we needed to make a copy before our next doctors appointment and that was that. From the quick glance we got I cant agree with the tech. For those of you who have seen a ultrasound of a baby girl... I saw no line. What I saw was the but and a bump which could easily be interpreted either way. We have decided that we will wait a couple more months then hopefully if we have the money go pay the other clinic to get one done. Since you pay they are more than happy to sit around and wait for the baby to show itself. We have decided to at least think of some girl names. Any ideas.....
When the nurse handed us our paper half turned away and heading off my husband stopped her. And we got some answers about what to expect in 4 months. When we come in we go through the Urgencia (ER) no matter what time of day it is. The labor and delivery room is a general room with up to 5 or 6 other beds. I'm imagining something like a Chemo room or one of the older critical care units before they started having the glass walls and doors. They only give epidural to first timers or for C-section. No one not even a female member of family is allowed in with you. And the baby after being checked is left with the mom in the moms bed. She did say if the baby doesn't latch on in the first hour or so they will take it to the incubator to feed it. That kinda sucks because sometimes newborns are not really even hungry for up to 24 hours.
With all this information in mind my husband is now totally on board with me laboring at home until we are sure its actually time for the baby to come. I figure by that stage of labor most of it will be a blur of pain and such so who care if I have any support. Ok that was slight sarcasm and I think it sucks they wont let females in but hey such is life and I will survive. Thanks to a fellow blogger (sunshine) I have plenty of info to read to be sure all is safe for me and the baby. I'm just glad I now know for sure what to expect and plan for.

buggen out

2010-08-01T13:16:00.000-07:00

Oh yes its time for some bug stories. Thanks to the rainy season I have a few for you. This year is a little different for us as far as the bugs go. For one reason we are in a house and not in an apartment above a tienda, also we have a cat. The first means that roaches are not our biggest culprits this year. And the second means we have a different way of dealing with any other bug that comes in. When we moved into the house the kitchen cabinets did have a major roach infestation but thanks to a friend we found this miracle paste that got rid of them in just a few days. I did see one roach the other day but it looked like it came in through the door and wonder cat ate him. But just in case its about time to buy the paste again and put it out to be sure we keep them away.
A few weeks ago I was awaken in the night to the lovely singing of a cricket in my room. As you know crickets songs are far from lovely in the middle of the night and in your bedroom. I tried my best to go back to sleep and ignore it (my husband was sleeping like a baby). We have high ceilings and the way our room is it was just so loud I couldn't sleep. I sat up and looked around to where I thought the sound was coming from. I soon saw a large black spot on the wall very near the ceiling. My groggy mind didn't register the fact that most likely a cricket large enough to make this noise would not be just sitting on the wall. So I proceed to grab anything that wouldn't break and started to throw it at the spot. After about try number five or six (in between which the cricket would shut up a min then start back its melody) my husband rolls over and says, "what are you doing."
"Trying to kill that cricket." I say.
"How do you know its a cricket?" he asks. At this point I am just pissed that he seriously hadn't heard it and was sleeping soundly this whole time, so I throw one more item then sit down to let the bugger start up again.
While we wait my husband looks at the dark spot and says it doesn't look like a cricket. I wear glasses but my sight is not that bad and I can tell there is something up there. Im to mad to reply and I continue to wait on the sound. Finally he starts back up and my husband says, "huh, must be a cricket." He of course since we are both awake now decides to turn on the light. The dark spot after all was not a cricket but a whole in the wall. At first we mistake this whole to be where someone must have put a rod for cloths hanging, although I was confused as to why there was not another whole directly across it. From up on the bed and shoving items into the whole to kill the cricket my husband realizes it goes all the way to the outside. I want to cry at this point because how do you kill or get a cricket to go away who can safely run away and then back to the whole when he is ready to hear his legs resonate again. Thankfully hubby wasn't as exhausted with the situation as I was and thought about the bug spray. He filled the whole and thankfully we have not heard another vocalist or legist (jajaja) in our room. (Ok that prob wasn't that funny but I liked it)
Also a few weeks ago I was standing around in the front area of Soriana watching Alana play with the toys, Joslin sit in the cart and eat crackers, and waiting for my husband to get off work. I looked over at a pallet that was on the floor for mattresses that looked welcoming to sit on. I was tired so anything but the floor would have looked nice. Something made me decide not to go sit there and not even a few min later I was so happy. A huge wood spider that had a body about and inch and a half long came crawling out of the same spot I had just been looking at. He of course saw me and my fear and walked right over to where I was and stood under my cart. I like to kill things that scare me but when they are that big I dont like to use any body part that will fill it like my foot. So I start trying to run over it with the cart. I was not successful and I'm sure anyone who saw me thought I was nutz. Eventually he ran back under his pallet, it was like he came out just to let me know that was his spot and I shouldn't have been looking at it like I wanted to use it.
Today was much worse than that though. My one year old is fascinated by bugs. She will point and squat for a better look and shout "bu.. bu.. bu" and so on until she decided it would be a good idea to step on it and see what happens. This was really cute until she tried to do it to a bee. I quickly explained to her that bees could hurt you. Now when she sees a bug she will say, "bee?" and look at me if I say no then she will go on with the other ritual. Any time she says either my four year old also runs over to make sure if its harmful and then goes to get the cat. The four year old hates bugs. Today while I was cleaning I hear Joslin say, "bee?" and the four year old says, "no its a dead fly." and she proceeds to get some tissue and throw it away. I thank her and go about my cleaning. Then I hear Joslin (the one year old) practically screaming "Bee?!?!?!?!" and Alana scream as if shes going to die. "dont touch it its a spider." I turn fairly slowly because just last night Alana was in tears in the bathroom over a spider that couldn't have eaten a fly if it wanted to. Then I about puck and scream "Joslin come here." This thing was no wood spider, or maybe it was but not one I have seen before. Im pretty sure it was a small tarantula from what I have seen in pictures. Ok shivers are going through me again. For a tarantula it was small I guess but the body alone was about an inch long and very fat with fat fuzzy legs. I look for Ke Ke and realize that she is the one that ran the thing into the house. Shes at the door trying to get in. Ke ke is no more than 5 months old and although I have seen her eat many bugs I wondered if this one was to big and dangerous for her. So I threw a shoe at the spider and wounded it. I then let ke ke in and was surprised to see her, nose on the floor, go the direct way the spider had (she looked like a blood hound). This has been very interesting to me because any cat I had before seemed to be afraid of bugs or just liked to play with them. I'm so glad that ke ke finds them to be a good part of her diet. She gobbled it up and I wanted to puke but let her while I had to hold Jolsin back. She wanted to see what Ke ke was doing to the bee. Then I noticed ke ke kept biting at her paw and I got worried. What if the spider bit her or something. I make her let me check out the paw and there is a horn nosed black beetle stuck to it. So she was chasing this spider with a beetle stuck to her paw. I pull it off and she proceeds to try and eat it. Some how this little guy managed to evade her and get back out to the patio. I was fine with that because I was sure ke ke would win out later. I'm still getting willies about the large spider but I am glad the way Joslin asked before she touched and that she listened when I told her to get away from it. Also whoo hoo for having a bug eating cat. Shes an inside/outside(closed patio) cat so I'm hoping she will keep us safe from the biggies as she gets bigger. I still dont know she may have been able to track and tackle this spider with out my help but I didn't want it running around in my house.
That is it for my bug stories for now, things like these come with the territory around here.

Finishing projects

2010-07-26T06:18:00.000-07:00

So I have recently gotten a few projects done and I thought Id share.

This was a crochet done by my aunt when Issac and I got married. I have been wanting to frame it as to keep it in better condition and not to get torn up. Recently I realized I wont be buying frames anytime soon so I quickly stitched up a pillow to put it on. And luckily it matches my new couches quite well. I have some of the same material left that I plan to use to make two throw pillows for the couches. This will have to wait until I can buy some stuffing though.

I had quite a bit of left over fabric when I made the curtain for the girls room. Here is the pillow case I made for Alana. She loves it as you can tell. I still have a little more fabric left and if I can get it to fit right I might put a little ruffle on the end. The case came up a little short after the hemming so you can see the pillow a little. This may not seem a big deal but I'm sure eventually it will drive me batty and I will find a way to put a ruffle on it. ;)

This one was the biggest of the projects I had lately. We had recently taken Joslin out of her crib because she learned how to climb over and I didn't want her to fall. the problem was that the bed she was sharing with Alana was very tall. At first to remedy this we placed the back of our old couch up against the side of the bed. The problem was the foot of the bed. Being only a year old she still wakes up and moves about quite a bit at night and I was getting little sleep worrying about it. We decided to put our Sofa Cama or futon up stairs for the girls to sleep on. Its a lot lower to the ground and is plenty comfortable for them. One of the springs is popped out toward the bottom but they are short enough that they are not laying in that area. This made them and me more comfortable and Joslin likes that she can climb into her bed on her own. This also helps me reach them better for kisses at night. ;)
So all of that to say that the tall bed got put into the play room/guest room/TV/living room. I decided to see if I could make it a little more like a day bed or a couch so to speak. With the material left over from the downstairs curtains I made a huge pillow. Halfway through making it I realized it would cost me and arm and a leg to stuff it. Around this same time I had decided to clean out and rearrange the closet. I realized that a lot of the disorganization was coming from all of our blankets and sheets. So I left a fairly large opening in the pillow and places some Velcro that I had from before. So that big pillow is full of our blankets. I still had a small piece left of that fabric and did the same thing and filled it with our sheets and pillow cases. We have a blue sheet set and this is what I put on the bed. I then cut some felt leaves to match the pattern on the other material and sewed it onto two of the blue pillow cases. One actually has a pillow in it and the other has a blanket. All in all it turned out to work well and is very comfortable to sit and watch movies. That was kind of a long post but I was pretty happy with the fact that I was able to save money on the stuffing and also clean out my closet. So far its working well, and we figure that when we need all the blankest most likely we will have someone staying in the bed and wont be using it so much like a couch and wont need the big stuffed pillow.

mango heaven or hell?

2010-07-21T13:25:00.000-07:00

I have now decided its heaven but I was skeptical. A friend of ours just got back from vacation at his home town in San Luis Potosi, and he brought us mangoes. Not just a couple but he brought us a huge bag that when I put them in my fridge last night it filled my entire lower shelf. A fellow blogger once wrote how she ate mangoes every day for a month and I mentioned how I could never do that because I hate to prepare them. But hey beggars cant be choosers and Ill take free food any day. Especially something my family loves so much including myself. Yesterday evening I pealed and cut three of the small ones for us to eat with biscuits for breakfast. That actually worked really well this morning and as I ate them I contemplated on what else I would make with them today.
Issac had the idea last night for me to puree some and freeze it for us to eat as freezies. This was simple enough and I cut up about six of the smaller smushier ones for this project and actually decided not to add any sugar because they were pretty sweet. We dont add sugar to a lot of things actually. My brother in-law thinks Im cruel because I will feed my girls corn flakes with out sugar. Funny thing is they love it and especially with some bananas thrown in. For the freezies I used some small plastic cups that I had left over from a party. Im hoping they do ok in the freezer once the mango expands.
Of course I had to make some agua de mango which did get some sugar added and this took about three or four of the smaller mangoes. This is so much yummier than Zuco. ;) Between both girls and myself I think we ate at least four or five of the small ones just cut up fresh today. I then remembered I had mixed up some Bisquick mix the other day and decided to make a cake with mango in it. I used brown sugar instead of white just to add a little kick and so far it smells yummy. Its cooling on the stove top right now and calling my name.
Then once I started to get to the bottom of the bag I noticed there were larger ones there also. These were not quite as ripe and smushy as the smaller ones so as for now I cut only one up that looked pretty ripe.
Now I still have six large mangoes in my bottom drawer of my fridge waiting a bit to get ripe. Any ideas on what else I should make would be nice. I'm sure Ill use at least two of them for aqua but they are pretty big so now I still have four. Ok I'm sure my girls will at at least one or two fresh. Gee so I only have two or three left.
For sure this was heaven and it didn't take as long as I thought it would to figure out what to do with it all. I may look into what it would take to make some jam considering I still have some Bisquick mix and biscuits are the easiest and quickest thing to make with it.

passport card

2010-07-20T06:24:00.001-07:00

This is really just a question but and Im hoping some of my readers may have some good info for me. To all my Mexico/US traveling friends do any of you have the passport card. My mom needs to get her passport to come down here and the card is way cheaper but I have never used it. I just want to make sure she wont have problems going or coming. Seems like she wouldn't its not all that new but I dont know anything about it. Please fill me in if you do.l

confident in Gods care

2010-07-17T06:12:00.000-07:00

This morning I woke up to a minor irritation. I hate to admit it but I usually check my e-mail and such before I do my bible study in the mornings. And today it was a good thing. Anyway it helped and touched me so much today I thought Id share it on my blog. Truly this reading has helped me also because I am often scared about the birth of this baby. And to be honest its not so much the pain of not having the epidural as knowing I will not have any loved ones in the room with me. Often prayer is what gets me from thinking on it to much. I'm thankful that my God is a comforter and that he can give me the confidence that I could never have on my own. If I let myself take control I am weak and fearful, but; I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me John 3:16. I have come to rely so deeply on him I'm not sure how I would take my next breath without him. Here is the reading I had for today.

The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles Psalm 34:17
When faith seems difficult, we struggle to understand its privileges. Trials conceal the truth concerning the benefits that come with being God´s child.
Unbelief obscures the tender care he has for his children. After all, nonbelievers would find it hard to believe that God cared much for their greatest problems, much less the intimate details of their day. Only with faith comes the certainty of love.
As God´s children, you can be confident He cares for every trouble, even the small, irritating ones that still ruin a day in seconds.
Face the loss of a loved one or a minor argument with the same confidence: God cares for you r troubles. Cry out softly or shout it from the roof tops, and He will hear.

Lord, You have shown Your love in so many ways, yet we still miss the point. Thank You for the privilege of coming to You with even our small irritation.

From God´s word for Couples devotions for growing together.

Seguro: week 19

2010-07-16T09:04:00.000-07:00

Sorry I get annoyed with using the months because they are really off from the true date of pregnancy, so from here on out I will be posting the week that Im on when I visit the seguro.
This visit was a little tougher because they made my appointment during a time when my husband could not get out of work. Because I knew I would be seeing a nurse and not the doctor I was ok with it. The girls actually did pretty well... I have good kids thank God. My appointment was set for 445 and I got there about 430pm. I was called in to see the nurse around 5pm. So not to bad of a wait. I have decided that when I meet someone for the first time I should outright explain that I sometimes have trouble understanding if they talk to fast or do not enunciate properly. The problem is my husband is so picky sometimes about how I speak that for a bit people dont realize that I do not know spanish well. But all in all I was able to understand her and when I wasn't I explained things to her and she was patient and either slowed down or spoke more clearly. She asked all the normal questions about swelling, head aches, dizziness, pain and or bleeding. Everything is going well so we moved on and a guy who was obviously a new nurse took my blood pressure and measured my stomach. He did the measuring with me lying on my back on the table then stepped back and told me to get up. These tables are tiny and I was afraid of falling off if I rolled over and so I tried to get up to my elbows first and get up the way you do when your not prego. He then was like no no no and came over to help me roll over and started a teaching charade about how I should get up from a lying position. I explained to him that I understood this but that I was scared because he moved so far away from the table. I hope he will stand closer for future women, but who knows. The other nurse was steady putting stuff in the computer and I assume documenting the teaching and such that this young nurse was getting ready to do with me. He flipped through a booklet that on my side had pictures and on his side had information for him to read to me. He did a good job and talked to me about eating right, hygiene, and taking my prenatal vitamins. He also discussed properly fitting clothing and shoes and how important that is. I never mentioned I was a nurse because I like that they do the teaching and am interested in how much the do with the general public. The other nurse then addressed what type of birth control we wanted to do after the baby was born. As I said with the other visit the doctor had mentioned this also and when we told her we wanted my husband to have the operation she said it would be no problem and moved on. We forgot at that appointment to ask how he was to get set up to have it done through the seguro. So I now asked the nurse if he had to see the general practitioner first before seeing the surgeon. NO HE DOESN'T. Get this all he has to do is show up at my 7month appointment and they will set it up from there with her. This is all turning out to be much easier than I had thought it would be. I also asked her about what they do for pain during the birth of the baby at the hospital. As I suspected there will be no epidural but if they have to cut they do give you a local anesthetic. So that came as some relief. I also asked about if the baby would be left with me and thankfully she said it would. In the private hospital I wanted the baby way way earlier than they would bring her to me. And Im pretty sure they feed her before bringing her to me. I mentioned this and she said that if I was wanting to nurse the baby they would rather me be the first to feed the baby. So aside from not getting the epidural Im liking the out look of this hospital stay better. I hear the nursing care sucks but seriously it sucked at the private one also. They made sure I had enough vitamins for the next month and sent me on my way. On my way out I set up my next appointment and headed home.

When its to hot to cook boycot the stove

2010-07-16T08:44:00.000-07:00

Its actually really nice here now with the rain but I see that some of my friends both in Mexico and in the states are struggling with the heat. So here is a little something I found when it was to hot here to cook.
So here are the ones Iv found please share if you have more. Im putting in my changes that I made so I can make them here in Mexico. For example a lot of them had cubed cooked chicken which in the states you can buy in a can or frozen well not around here so I put ham in all of them or you could get some mariscos. I suppose some of them could use tuna also but not sure on the taste.

Tex Mex (hee hee I always find it funny to make tex mex)
6-7 slices of ham cubed (depending on the thickness)
1 can corn
1can black beans
1/2 green bell pepper cubed
1c diced cheese (I used chiuahua)
1c thick and chunky salso (I actually bought salsa for the first time in a long time instead of making it)
half the bunch of cilantro
Mayo

Mix all but salsa cilantro and mayo, mix these in a separate container. It didnt suggest how to eat it but what we did was put it on tostadas, it was very yummy, I was mixing the sauce with the bean mixture and hubby liked it better to spread the mayo salsa over the tostada then put on the bean mixture.

This turned out yummy and I didnt even use the pecans.
Crab spread for wraps
1pck cream cheese
6oz can crab meat (dont have this around here so I got surimi, same thing)
1/3 c mayo
1/2tsp thyme
1Tbsp horseradish (cant find this either I plan to just leave it out)
1Tbsp mustard or Disaun (no idea how to spell that)
1/4 c parmesan
3Tbs peacans
Mix up and chill several hours spread out on wraps (flour tortillas) and serve.

Greek Salad
2c cauliflower florets
2 c broccoli florets
1c sliced fresh mushrooms
1c pitted olive
1/2 c green pepper
1pt grape tomatoes (dont have grape ones here but I did manage to find cherry ones)
1c Italian or greek salad dressing
1c crumbled feta cheese (Ill be using the regular crumbly quesadilla cheese)
1/2 cup pine nuts (yep wont be using thsese)

Mix and serve

Wrap
2c cubbed chicken or ham
1/3 c green onion
1 tomato
1 avacado
1/3c dressing
1Tbsp mustard
flour tortillas
1 1/" c fresh spinich
1c blue cheese.

Mix first 4 ingredients, mix next 3 in separate container, put dressing mix on tortilla followed by ham then spinach and cheese and wrap.

I was asked on my bean post to share some ideas of how I cook mine. To be honest I dont have a recipe. But here is what I do, I soak about 3/4 kilo of beans in my crockpot overnight. In the morning I add water till the pot is full, cut off a chunk of onion which is usually about a 1/4 of it, peal and cut in half about 2-3 pieces of garlic depending on the sizes, put in one chicken bulion cube, then I add what ever spices I have available like oregano (my husband loves oregano), thyme, and some garlic power. Oh yeah I love garlic so if your not a big fan leave out the powder and add less fresh garlic. I dont add any salt at this point. I have found that they can get pretty salty if you do. And let cook on high for 6-8 hours depending on how mushy you want them. When I freeze them I let them dethaw by setting them on the counter most of the day. Then to re-fry them I just heat oil in a large pan, after its nice and hot I poor in the beans with the juice, sometimes you may need to add some water and depending on how they came out you may need to add some salt. Let them simmer in the juice or water for a little while till they are nice and soft. I use the squisher thingy (lol I have no idea what its called and so far no one I know does. Iv asked and they say what comes down to the thing you make beans with.) But it comes with most spatula groups here in Mexico and if flat on the bottom with little wholes in it. Ill add a picture. So you squish squish squish to your hearts delight and let the juice or water simmer out. Some people like their beans watery and others dont, I like both and make which ever will serve well with what we are having.
Here is the squisher if anyone has a proper name please share. ;)

Beans beans good for the heart....

2010-07-12T05:53:00.000-07:00

Oh yeah the more you eat the more you fart.
Or you may have grown up with: Beans Beans the magical fruit... the more you eat the more you tute.
No this post is not about farting its about beans. ;) I have to tell you though the first time I sang this little diddy in front of my husband hes like.."What did you just say." When I sang it I was sure he would say, oh we sang something similar as a kid. There are a lot of the the nursery rhymes and child songs that he knows in Spanish because magically kids in both countries grew up with them. (I blame TV) But in the land of beans they didn't sing about what they do to your digestive system. Maybe that's partly because they eat them so much beans just dont have as strong and affect on the Mexican stomach of steal. Ok I said this wasn't going to be about farting didn't I.
So not only are beans good for the heart they really are magical because they are also good on your budget. this I do believe is why they are so necessary and a staple here in Mexico. You can buy a kilo of pinto beans for 10-12pesos depending on when and where you by and a kilo of black beans for only a few pesos more. Issacs mom and aunts work part of the year in a childrens home that his other aunt runs. At this home they have a huge pressure cooker. How huge you may ask. Well they cook close to three kilos of beans at a time. They serve them at dinner that night and whats left over after they cool off they freeze in packages. When one or the other is here in El Valle they tone it down a bit and do one kilo at a time but the same principle applies. You cook a lot, freeze them, and then you can have beans pretty much every night or day.
For our house I still do not own a pressure cooker, this will be remedied on some birthday or mothers day but who knows when. Really though I'm fine with out it, instead I have a medium size crock pot. I like the way the beans taste better when they have cooked and simmered in the spices all day. Pressure cookers are nice sometimes because they are so fast. When mi suegra cooks the one kilo it takes less than an hour and when I cook half kilo in my crock pot its an all day thing. Both the examples above accredit for the beans soaking the night before. But with the pressure cooker you dont even have to do that you just let them sit an extra 30min or hour in the cooker. After cooking the half kilo I'm usually able to separate it in three portions (although Em finding with the baby eating more and more its slowly turning into two portions). The first we always eat as whole beans because they are fresh. The other two get frozen and when I dethaw them they get refried.
Beans can always be kept lively and seem like a new meal every night. If you ask my husband how he likes his beans he goes into a forest gump tirade about... Whole beans and eggs, Whole beans and chorizo, whole beans and rice (maybe with some carne molido) this could go on for awhile and then he would go into refried beans with...
To be honest beans have a lot of protein and although you do still need some meat in your diet they help to replace much of what is needed. Just take a look at the guide below it says meat AND BEANS, they are one in the same as far as your nutrition is concerned. Mind you you will not get iron from them so you still need your occasional beef and such. When I moved here and found my grocery budget was much lower than it was before I was concerned that our health may suffer a bit. But to be honest thanks to the freshness of all the food we eat I think the opposite is happening. I seriously cant remember the last time I ate something that was prepackaged out of my fridge except American cheese slices.

So now with our savings gone and our for sure tight budget on food I will be working my little crock pot once or twice a week to get those beans going. The other staple that can be added to these beans that helps to add to a yummy dinner and not a lot to the price is rice. Yum beans and rice. I cant believe after two years in Mexico this is my first post on Beans.

Homemade

2010-07-09T08:27:00.000-07:00

One thing I have loved about being a stay at home mom is that I get to put all my craft ideas to use. In Mexico when they build houses they dont seem to give any thought to the windows and the fact that you may want curtains. This has been a hurdle for every place we have moved into. This new house is no different. I used the curtains I had already made for the large back door and window but nothing even resembling these would work on the front windows. The windows go all the way to the ceiling and in the upstairs bedrooms they go all the way to one wall leaving no room for hanging rods. they also open inward which posed more problems. What we came up with in the end was a thin metal pipe secured toward the ceiling with a hook or nail (or tape in some instances) and I hand made the curtains to be long enough and easy enough to open and close by adding loops to the top. The picture of the curtain in my room is not updated (the black and white one) I have now put shower curtain rings into the top to make it easier to open and close. It actually doesn't look as tacky as it sounds. ;)
In the last photo is a picture of my youngest daughters name. We had one for Alana that was given to us which is very nice. I felt Joslin needed one to. This is made from sheets of thick plastic which came off of a metallic shelf we had gotten for free. I took the sheets off and saved them in case I could use them later. They did come in handy after all. My favorite projects are ones like this one where Im able to find things from around my house, for cheap or free and make them something fun.

Update on Church going

2010-07-05T06:23:00.000-07:00

I think in one of my posts about our new place I mentioned that we found a church close by. Keeping Christ in the life of our family is so important to me and my husband. We were both raised and still are Non catholic Christians and that's not always easy here in Mexico. We were going to a church near our other house which we thought to be the only Christian church in town. It is pretty large for our taste, but we knew we needed to be going ourselves and to have the girls going. I teach Alana a lot about the bible at home and I feel this is just as important as her being in church. Kind of like I dont think teachers should hold all responsibility of educating my children. Kids learn best when they are getting the information from loving parents at home as well as others outside the home. Ok off that soap box I want to tell you about my church.
There are never more than 15-20 people including the kids each Sunday. Except a couple Sundays ago was the 8year anniversary for the church here so people came in from the church in Guad and it was a full house that weekend. But even with all those people everyone stood around and talked like old friends. This is what Issac and I really want in a church is fellowship. I do feel its important for us to be feed by a pastor and to be reminded of principles from the bible but to be honest we have found we can find that online. What you can not find is Christian fellowship.
The lesson last night was about letting God take control and knowing that he will care for you. We have seen this over and over in the last couple years since we moved down here and I know we will see it over and over again. But even with all this proof its easy to get anxious about money, and clothing, and shoes. But you know what he reminded us of... that God provided for a whole nation in a desert for 40 year. For 40 years they had shoes on their feet, cloths on their backs, and food and water in their stomachs. Sure it prob wasn't the best looking clothing or shoes and they were eating plane bread with no jam, but they were taken care of. Man, its just always so good to remember that I am so cared for by being who is much more than I can ever know.
After church we stayed and chattered and ate and the girls had a blast playing. We have not experienced this kind of thing since being in the states. I believe that "church" is not the building or the sermon or even the preacher. Church is the people no matter where they are and one of the truest showings of the church is when those people fellowship together. I cant tell you how revived I am today. Its so nice not to come out of church feeling frustrated and discontent. Its nice to understand enough of what the preacher is saying to at least get the point of the sermon. I do still miss a lot of the jokes and stories but because they post the verses on a screen I can keep up with those and then catch enough of what he says to understand. And Issac always chats with me about it after so I can catch more than I did at first. Oh but I did volunteer to put a lesson together for the kids as long as I had someone in the room to do all the talking. The teacher was really excited. Im pretty sure she is a full time worker and I love putting these things together as long as I get to sit through church sometimes to.
So last night I got to chat with a bunch of ladies about babies, pregnancy, kids, husbands and all that good stuff that ladies chat about. That was so nice. I did have to ask them to repeat a few times and sometimes I just didn't ever figure out what they were saying but for the most part I feel I was able to actually connect.

Ok now I need to stop posting, go clean my house so I can read other blogs later.

I love when others post pics so here is one that has nothing to do with this post. ;)

We love our yard.